Dating back to the year 750, just a few centuries after the fall of Rome, are the legendary Ama pearl divers of Japan. Ama (which means “woman of the sea”) is a tradition which developed when women began freediving upwards of 30-feet beneath the oceans of Japan in search of pearls, as well as abalone, seaweed and other shellfish.
Holding their breath for more than 2-minutes at a time, these legendary women spend more than 4 hours each day harvesting their very lucrative crop of marine life from the seabed below. Earlier this morning, CBS Sunday Morning profiled Hideko Sakaguchi, one of the remaining 2,000 women who keep the tradition alive. But perhaps the most impressive part of this woman’s story is how she still dives each and every day at her impressively vibrant age of 80-years-young.
You can watch the full CBS story above, and to learn much more about the history of the Ama divers of Japan you can visit Gakuran.com, and watch the United Nations pocket documentary below which features another interview with Hideko Sakaguchi as well. If this story inspires you, then you might also be blown away by the life story of Tao Porchon-Lynch. Born on August 13, 1918, Tao is now 96-years-young and renowned for being the oldest yoga teacher in the world. Check out NBC’s awesome profile of Tao below to see someone who is the ultimate embodiment of living life to the fullest.
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