Ama divers - Your Art History Reference Guide!

ArtHistoryClub Information Site on Ama divers Art History Art History Search        Art History Browse             News        Gallery        Forums        Articles        Weblinks        welcome to our free resource site for all art history lovers!

Ama divers

Ama divers (Japanese:海女) are Japanese female divers famous for diving for pearls.

The word ama literally means sea woman. Japanese tradition holds that the practice of Ama divers may be 2000 years old. Traditionally, and even as recently as the 1960s, Ama dived wearing only a loincloth. Even in modern times, Ama dive without scuba gear or air tanks , making them a traditional sort of free-diver. Depending on the region, ama may dive with masks, fins and torso-covering wetsuits at the most. Only divers who work for tourist attractions use white, partially transparent suits.

Ama are famous for pearl diving but originally they dived for food like seaweed, shellfish, lobsters, octopus and sea urchins - and oysters which sometimes have pearls.

Ama divers dive until the very old age. Usually they also have another job, usually working in a farm.


Last updated: 10-09-2005 21:52:18
Last updated: 01-04-2007 01:18:57
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the
GNU Free Documentation License. See original document.
Art History Search | Art History Browse | Contact | Legal info