Shirongo Matsuri

Overview

The Shirongo Festival (Shirongo Matsuri) is a traditional rite of the ama female divers that has long been handed down on Sugashima Island in Toba City, Mie Prefecture. Held each year around July 11 at the island's Shirongo Beach and Shirahige Shrine, it begins when, at the signal of a conch-shell horn, the ama in their diving garb plunge into the sea all at once and compete to be first to gather a mated pair of abalone. The first abalone taken is offered to the shrine, with prayers for a bountiful catch and safety at sea that year. A major feature is that Shirongo Beach, normally treated as sacred waters closed to fishing, is opened only on this one day. Known as a rare opportunity to watch ama diving at relatively close range, the festival vividly carries on, into the present day, the ama culture of Ise-Shima—the region with the largest population of ama divers in Japan.

History and Origins

The Shirongo Festival is a divers' rite said to have been passed down on Sugashima for around seven hundred years, an event rooted deeply in the faith and livelihood of an island people who have lived with the sea. Sugashima, a remote island floating in Toba Bay, has long been a thriving center of ama diving. The ama are women breath-hold divers who, without using diving equipment, gather abalone, turban shells, sea urchins, and seaweed, descending to the seabed at depths of three to four meters in shallow waters and, for some divers, to nearly twenty meters in deep waters. This festival, giving thanks for the bounty of the sea and praying for a good catch and safe fishing, has been handed down firmly bound together with the rites of Shirahige Shrine. Its greatest distinguishing trait is that the sacred waters of Shirongo Beach, normally closed to fishing, are opened only on the festival day—an expression of the wisdom the island people have cultivated over long years of carefully using limited marine resources without exhausting them all at once. Because work beneath the sea is always accompanied by danger, the ama have from old times marked their diving towels and chisels with the star-shaped sign "Seman" and the lattice sign "Doman" as charms against evil, praying for the safety of the dive. Such faith unique to the ama lives on, generation after generation, in the background of the Shirongo Festival as well.

Highlights

The greatest spectacle is the powerful moment when, at the sound of the conch horn, the ama in their diving garb leap into the sea at Shirongo Beach all together and dive as one to begin their work. What they vie to gather is a mated pair—male and female—of abalone. The diver who first brings up such a pair is honored for the year as the "ama-gashira," the head of the divers, an honor held in great pride among the ama. The pair of abalone taken is offered to Shirahige Shrine, with prayers for a bountiful catch and safety at sea. Because the rite takes place in waters not far from shore, a charm unique to this festival is the chance to observe up close, from the shore, the movements of the ama as they dive and surface. Ama diving, normally carried out offshore and rarely seen, can seldom be watched this closely anywhere in the country. It is a simple yet powerful event in which the honed skill of women who challenge the sea with nothing but breath-hold diving merges with reverence for the sea itself; the sound of the conch horn ringing out over the summer morning sea and the white diving garb glittering among the blue waves are etched deeply into the hearts of those who watch.

Visiting and Access

The Shirongo Festival is held each year around July 11 at Shirongo Beach and Shirahige Shrine in Sugashima-cho, Toba City, with the diving taking place mainly in the morning (roughly from 9:00 to 11:30). To reach Sugashima, take the municipal ferry from the Toba Marine Terminal (about 15 minutes), disembark at Sugashima, and walk about 25 minutes from the ferry landing to the venue at Shirongo Beach. As the event takes place on a remote island, it is best to check the ferry schedule carefully in advance and allow plenty of time. The diving can be watched from the shore, where one can feel up close the power of ama diving unfolding on a summer morning sea. When viewing, it is important to be fully mindful that this is a sacred rite praying for a bountiful catch and safety, and to watch quietly, observing good manners so as not to hinder the divers. As the island has only limited dining options, it is wise to bring drinks and the like in advance.

Nearby Attractions

At the eastern tip of Sugashima stands the brick-built Sugashima Lighthouse, regarded as one of the oldest still in operation in Japan. With its small, endearing form just 9.7 meters tall, it is cherished as a historic structure built in the Meiji era, reached by walking about twenty minutes along a footpath from the fishing harbor. The island is spread with the simple scenery of a fishing village, where one can feel firsthand a way of life infused with ama culture. The town of Toba, a town of divers and fishermen, has many establishments serving fresh seafood, and the popular "ama hut" experience, where one can enjoy seafood grilled over charcoal by the ama themselves. Signature sights of Ise-Shima dot the area, including the Toba Aquarium, which boasts one of the world's largest numbers of species, and Mikimoto Pearl Island, the birthplace of cultured pearls, so that combined with island-hopping, visitors can fully savor the rich maritime culture of Toba and Shima.

Related Information

The Toba-Shima region is known as the area with the largest population of active ama divers in Japan, and its ama culture has been recognized as a Japan Heritage under the title "A Town Where You Can Meet Ama Divers: Toba and Shima." Ama diving is divided into the kachido (those who dive in waters near the shore) and the funado (those who go offshore by boat to dive in deep waters), each with its own way of life and skills handed down over time. The "noshi-awabi"—abalone gathered by the ama, then thinly stretched and dried—has from ancient times been an indispensable offering to Ise Jingu, and ama culture has thus been deeply tied to the rituals of the Grand Shrine. The protective signs "Seman" and "Doman" marked on the divers' tools, among other beliefs of people who live with the sea, also remain vividly alive today. The Shirongo Festival is one of the rites that symbolize that ama culture, and its distinctive custom of offering a mated pair of abalone, along with the practice of opening normally closed waters only on the festival day, brilliantly reflects an island life that has coexisted with the resources of the sea. As one of the few occasions to watch up close the figure of ama challenging the sea by breath-hold diving, it has in recent years drawn growing attention from within Japan and abroad.

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