‘Sea women’ and sacred waterfalls: Exploring one of Japan’s most stunning secrets

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Aiko Ohno dives down in the cool waters off Japan’s Ise-Shima National Park, scanning the rocky seabed for urchins and turban shells. Three meters deep, she swims with ease without an oxygen tank, using just her goggles, fins, a weight belt and a sukari, a mesh net that’s attached to a floating ring.

“I just love the sea and being in the water,” she says after resurfacing.

Ohno is an ama diver, or a “sea woman” as they are known in Japan. For centuries, these traditional fisherwomen have lived off the riches of the waters around the Ise-Shima region, collecting seafood to sell at the market.

“We coexist with nature — not catching too much, and being conscious of protecting it. It’s a tradition that’s been passed down for thousands of years,” says Ohno, who moved here nine years ago from Tokyo to be an ama diver.

Today, the Pacific Ocean is a little choppy — the remnants of a late-season typhoon — so Ohno and her crew of freedivers don’t stay in the water for long. But they don’t need to — within 10 minutes their nets begin to fill.

Age is no barrier here. At 46, Ohno is one of the youngest in her group — the oldest diving today is 74.

Once a thriving industry, only about 2,000 ama divers remain in Japan now, according to estimates. Most of them are found in this idyllic region.

“The older divers still come here every day with a smile on their faces. I’ve learned that maybe that’s what gives them what we call ikigai, or a reason to live,” says