“Amas” living in the Shima region




Previously, I wrote about “mizuhiki” (the lower picture above, red and white stings), which is used for an expression of celebration on a gift. It is thought that the custom of the mizuhiki has a history of approximately seven centuries. In many good situations when Japanese people send gifts of celebration, the thing on the right above the mizuhiki knot in the picture is used to express celebration with the mizuhiki. It’s called a “noshi”, but many Japanese people including me don’t know its true meaning. I knew its meaning and the story of its beginning when I visited Toba city, Mie prefecture for the first time.

The long history of the noshi


The whole form illustrating the noshi is pictured above. Speaking in more detail, the part of the red and white paper envelope is called the noshi, and the part of the long yellow band is called the “noshi-awabi”. The noshi-awabi means an abalone which was stretched out.

The original type of the noshi-awabi is pictured above. It has a story of an ancient god.

Yamato-hime-no-mikoto who was the fourth daughter of Sujin-tenno, the 11th Emperor, was the first lady to serve Amaterasu-omikami in Ise Shrine. And she was an important lady who dedicated herself to the establishment of Ise Shrine. After Amaterasu-omikami was enshrined in Ise Shrine, Yamato-hime-no-mikoto set off on a journey to discover food to offer to Amaterasu-omikami. She encountered a woman with good ingredients which she had obtained diving under the sea, Oben at Kunisaki, a small town in the Shima region, Mie Prefecture. Oben gave abalones to Yamato-hime-no-mikoto. Yamato-hime-no-mikoto was pleased by them and chose them as the offering foods.

Henceforth, abalones of Kunisaki are a significant tribute to Amaterasu-omikami. Servers in Kunisaki peel abalones into thin bands and dry them in order to make the original noshi-awabis. Those are tributes for Amaterasu-omikami, and a countless number of years passed, the noshi-awabi developed into the item of celebration of goodness or long life.

Very old work under the seaWomen who dive and obtain ingredients under the sea, abalones, turban shells, urchins, sea cucumbers, Japanese spiny lobsters and seaweed are called the ama. The history of the ama is very long, there is recorded information in “Gisi-wajin-den”, which is the historical record of “Gi”(a big regional country in China in the 3rd century) about the then practices in Japan. Furthermore, in a historical ruin where ancient people lived three thousand years ago, there were the remains of abalones. The ama already worked more than three thousand years ago. At last we can see the work of the ama before the historical record in current time.
The sea of the Shima region has a wide and shallow reef. And with the good influences of the Japan Current the sea of the Shima region is a good fishing area, then many amas can work. Veteran amas can dive under the sea till the depth of under 10 meters for about a minute. Their work under the deep sea is so severe due to the thin air in their lungs and the strong water pressure that they can’t inhale fresh air rapidly because rapid suction damages their lungs. When they appear on the surface of the sea, they repeatedly inhale and exhale through their narrow mouths. On doing those actions, whistles sound in the air on the sea. The aspect of their whistles combined with the quiet sound of waves is very sentimental. The first picture of this note is a scene of amas on the surface of the sea, they are whistling and resting their bodies holding onto wooden tubs.
Nowadays young women in this local area don’t want to become the ama because of the severity of the work of the ama. However veteran amas have found some pleasure in the work of the ama. A veteran ama said as follows with a smile.
“My daughter advices me to retire from my work of the ama because the work of the ama is very hard. However, when the sign of opening of the ama season makes my heart beat fast. If I get a lot of ingredients I am very happy. On the contrary, on finding other ama who has obtains more I feel frustrated. The more I raise my skill of the ama the more ingredients I can obtain. That strengthens my motivation. Moreover, sitting around a fire for warming our cold bodies after diving under the sea, I always chat with my ama group, that is fun too.”
They are mothers or grandmothers, and wives, then they have much housework besides the work of the ama. One of the biggest charms of them is kind of innocent way of their behaviors. In our current stressful society it is their incredible aspect but a wonderful one.

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