The ancestral tradition of Japanese women divers: the ama in the north-east of Iwate

2019年 06月24日


The north-east of the prefecture of Iwate in the north of the region of Tohoku is famous with its beautiful coastal landscape. All along the littoral of this part of Japan, we are struck speechless with enormous rocky cliffs eroded since more than 100 millions of years that we can see from the boat ride. The spectacle of cliffs in the incredible natural forms, called Sanno-iwa in Japanese is unique in this region of Japan and it is found several minutes of the Taro station in the north of the city of Miyako.

Cliffs of Sannno-iwa


Then moving toward the north, near the city called Kuji, we access to the very beautiful beaches, where a tradition since 600 years ago is respected until today: the ama, which means "women of the sea". The apnoea divers go down sometimes even to the 10m of depth for catching the shells, fishes and crustaceans in the water which does not exceed 20 degrees in this region even in summer.

The ama can continue the diving longtime and some peeople can reach to the 80 years old.

In the honour of this tradition, a festival called hokugen no ama matsuri is organized each year in July. In this occasion, we can not only participate in the diving of the ama, but also taste the sea urchins freshly just being caught.
 
Urchins sold in the market

After having participated into the festival of hokugen no ama matsuri, a dish of seafood is ideal.
 

Not far from the coasts, there are many restaurants where we can taste many crustaceans just been caught some minutes before. We can find big oysters, scallops or more urchins. All those seafoods can be eaten as sushi or as donburi (with a bowl of rice).

Sushi and donburi of urchins

The touristic spots

In the region of Miyako and of Kuji, there are many beaches, and some of them are surrounded by small cliffs with heavenly landscape, but also many big cavities and also hidden places as follows:

  • Jodogahama beach, near Miyako city, this beach has the translucent water

  • Sannoiwa, a rock, in the sea side, which has more than 50 m of the height

  • Ryusendo, a huge cavity of limestone which belongs to the National Treasure

  • Kuji gawa, a river accross the mountains for plunging into the Pacific ocean.

and much more as well ....

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