Beautiful naked Japanese mermaids — the Ama divers who fish in the depths
Ama are Japanese free-divers who are usually women and are most famous for fishing for pearls.
The mermaids dive into the sea with no equipment and just a net to get their catch, and are often naked except for a fundoshi.
Eishin Ozaki has been taking photographs of the mermaids for half a century, starting in 1955 when he was in his thirties. Now 92, he continues to exhibit, though one suspects his diving days are over.
He went diving at Hegura, near Wajima in Ishikawa prefecture, but couldn’t keep up with the local Ama female divers there. The go from the surface to the seabed in a minute, some fifty meters down to catch abalone, pearls, seaweed and more.
His photography is his compromise, capturing Ishikawa, Izu and other regions’ Ama in all their nude divinity.
Actually many of the women continue diving until old age. After all, they made a career and lifetime out of defying the hardships of nature.
Although the numbers of Ama are greatly reduced today, they still exist in coastal areas all around Japan.
2 Comments
These ladies work so hard for pearls when I can easily provide them all with pearl necklaces.
Yeah I also agree