2014年2月16日日曜日

海女・Ama


海女を知っている?数日前、海女という女性を知った。海女は真珠を手に入れるために、ふんどししか着なくて、2分間ぐらい海に飛び込んで、カキを持ってくる女の人だ。元にアワビ、海草などを集めるために飛び込んだけど、真珠のほうは有利だったので、結局真珠を手に入れるために飛び込むことになった。

もっと真珠を得るために、真珠のないカキを水上に持ってきて、真珠の核が入れられた。入れられた後、また海に返って、真珠は作られたときにまた海女に釣られた。そういう真珠は養殖真珠という。興味深いでしょう?海女はその仕事で独立になれるだろう。でも、なぜ男の人じゃなくて、女の人はそういうことをするのだろう?女性のほうは脂肪の層が厚くて、水の冷たさから防御されるからと言われるけど、本当かな?一般的に、女の人の胸と腰の脂肪のほうが厚いけど、そんなに役に立つかな?太っている男の人もいたんじゃないか?

今も海女がいるけど、だんだん消えているそうだ。現代の海女は潜水服を着る。まだ海女として働いている90歳のおばさんもいるんだ!すごいでしょう?僕は90歳のおじさんになったら、そんなに元気になると嬉しい。(^_^)

去年、海女として働いている女性について、「あまちゃん」というドラマもあったけど、海女のことを知る前に、あまちゃんを知らなかったので、話に詳しくない。少し見てみるかも。

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Have you ever heard of Ama? I learned of them a few days ago. Ama are women that dive under water for around 2 minutes at a time, wearing nothing but a loincloth, in order to get pearls. Originally, they would dive for alabone, seaweed, and other kinds of shellfish, but since pearls were more valuable, in the end they focused on diving for pearls.

In order to get more pearls, they bring clams without any pearls in them up to the surface and put a pearl nucleus inside the clams. After doing so, they return them to the sea, and when the pearl is complete they are fished out by Ama. Those kinds of pearls are called "cultivated pearls". Pretty interesting, right? Ama are able to be independent with that job. But, I wonder why women, not men, do it? They say it's because women have a thicker layer of fat that protects them from the cold water, but I wonder if that's true. Generally, women have more fat around their breasts and hips, but I wonder if its really that useful? Aren't there fat guys, too?

There are Ama even now, but they are gradually disappearing it seems. Modern Ama wear diving suits. There are even 90 year-old women working as Ama! That's pretty amazing! I hope that when I'm a 90 year-old guy I'm as active and energetic!

Last year, there was a drama about a woman that worked as an Ama named "Ama-chan", but before I learned about Ama, I'd never heard about it, so I don't know any of the details of the story. I might try watching it.

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