The hut of the pearl divers is more modern than I'd expected. Here, in the village of Osatsu along the craggy coast of the Ise-Shima region in Mie Prefecture, the small concrete building named Hachimankamado blends in with its 21st-century surroundings. But inside the hut the traditions are age-old, as a group of Japan's storied ama (women divers) prepare food, share stories and warm their bodies before a dip in the sea.
Reiko Nomura, the hut's outgoing and vibrant 80-year-old host, welcomes us in with a smile and wave of her hand. We sit, myself and my guide Tatsuya Sato, arranging ourselves to face the burning embers of the hut's fire pit. Nomura offers us tea and starts chatting away, the stories of her craft bubbling forth practically unbidden.
No one really taught Nomura how to become a kachido ama, a woman who dives for abalone and other sea creatures by swimming out from the seashore with a basket and a weighted belt. As a child growing up around the culture of the ama, or ama-san as they are respectfully known, she spent her days with her mother in the divers' huts and eventually just got into the water and started swimming. From the age of 10 until just a few years ago, most of Nomura's life was spent beneath the waves.