Traditions centered around female divers, called Ama, for centuries provided shellfish, abalone, seaweed, and even pearls for Shima, a town in the Mie Prefecture of Japan. The town of Shima was known as the town that brought food to the emperor. The good gathered by this small place constituted the majority of what the emperor enjoyed in his palate. The divers’ position was typically held by women purely because of a biological benefit. Women have a tendency to retain body heat better than men and because of this filled the role better than any man could. This image endorses the feeling of what it meant to be an ama, during the 1960’s. The picture shows a young woman marching her way, as it appears, away from her recent dive. The women divers of this city obviously take great pride in being able to provide such necessary products for food and commerce. The photographer for this image was Fosco Maraini. He captured the spirit of the empowered, young, naked women in this town in order to make a point about who they are and the traditions they hold for their community, while making a larger message about how modern day lacks such traditions. 

The subject of this first photo is a woman standing with her chest high to flaunt her commitment to her job. She is gazing at the ocean; the ama recognizes the vast open water as her work space. The divers must learn to read the weather and nature of the sea to know when diving would be the most opportune. This ama diver is wearing nothing, but a loin cloth, as it is a tradition for these Japanese divers to dive into cold water in only this little covering. She has no problem having her breasts exposed because she truly feels, as does majority of citizens in Shima, that her job is an important asset to the community. The photo appears to be a stance on the relationship of these divers to their affiliated town. The woman carries what appears to be a handmade basket that she is using to gather. The basket shows sign of wear and tear, as does the net that she holds. This shows the work that she has put in with her materials. She has her hair back in a bandana because she probably has finished her dive for the day and just needs to keep her hair out of her face for the rest of the day. The fact that she has her hair back, but is still shirtless seems to show that she has a responsibility and work to do after her dive is complete.

 This picture, and the others in the collection, represent a type of culture that, is to be believed, lacking in western civilization. Except for a few places in Europe the open nudity of a woman is taboo in the western world. A woman doing her duty in the west would be a woman in uniform, or in something that would be a representation about how she functions within her chosen society. Fosco is making a point that western society could use more attachment to their ancestors and family values, like these cultures in the east, but specifically in Japan. It seems that Japan was selected by Maraini, specifically, because of its almost opposite cultural standing and development compared to the west. 

The image also represents the way that traditions and values evolve over time. The ama have been noticed all the way back to Japan’s oldest known record, “Kojiki”, and now make their way into major modern day newspapers about their continuing tradition. The tradition of this town in Japan has always held women as the great divers, but now has stretched to include men. Modern day traditions all seem to stretch gender boundaries so it was no surprise that this one would be any different. This diving tradition has also been held through the years without an association to a particular family, however, this role seems to have moved to bloodline-based role rather than a role for the people of the town. The image gives a lot more credit to family values over communal ones, but still credits tradition for this town of Shima’s success. Collectively, Fosco’s picture create an emotional state within all viewers that reminds them of the nostalgia that comes with family and tradition. Presumably, this was Maraini’s goal and he definitively did a good job of conveying such emotion to his audience.

Commitment of these divers pushed them to dive fifty to a hundred times a day. With all the needs of a small community diving could be sacrifice, but the women do not stop. They have persistence through rain and storm to show what they are truly worth to their city, country, and to the ruling emperor. The image represents the past and present of a society that has strength in themselves and that bonds together to be happy and communal. Japan as a whole has held a culture for centuries that is not very invasive and keeps to itself when it comes to culture. I believe that Fosco understood this and took to utilizing the strength of Japanese bonds to deliver a message to the western world about the importance of holding traditions and history.
