While traditional ama divers wore only a fundoshi (loincloth) to make it easier to move in the water and a tenugui (bandanna) around their head to cover their hair, Mikimoto ama wore a full white diving costume and used a wooden barrel as a buoy. Upon surfacing, the ama opened their mouths slightly and exhaled slowly, making a whistling sound known as ‘Isobue’. In order to successfully complete this process, each diver would have to hold her breath for up to two minutes at a time in often freezing cold waters. Once this critical process was completed, the ama then carefully returned the oysters to the seabed – in a place where they were protected from external dangers (such as typhoons and red tide). The role of the Mikimoto ama was to collect the oysters from the seabed so that the pearl-producing nucleus may be inserted. He observed how surprised the foreign tourists visiting his pearl island were when seeing the Ama diving naked wearing only their traditional loincloth. Another little-known fact is that the ‘traditional’ white attire we often see Ama divers wearing was also created by Mikimoto. This business was the main reason for the strong association between Ama and pearl diving among foreign observers that continues to this day. Mikimoto used Ama divers to look after his cultivated pearls on Mikimoto Pearl Island, near Toba city. That changed when Kokichi Mikimoto, founder of Mikimoto Pearl, began his enterprise. Traditionally for Ama, finding a pearl inside an oyster was akin to receiving a large bonus while they went about their ancestral practice of collecting shellfish. The most profitable pursuit however was diving for pearls. Utilising special techniques to hold their breath for up to 2 minutes at a time, they would work for up to 4 hours a day in order to gather abalone, seaweed and other shellfish. These women specialised in freediving some 30 feet down into cold water wearing nothing more than a loincloth. Ama (海女 in Japanese), literally means ‘woman of the sea’ and is recorded as early as 750 in the oldest Japanese anthology of poetry, the Man’yoshu. Since then, the clip of her wardrobe malfunction reached over a million views on YouTube, with Cooke noting, "It's fair to say my glute is more famous than my face.One of the lesser-known but fascinating parts of Japanese culture is that of the Ama pearl divers. "I blocked it out until I got in the sleigh and sat down, when I was suddenly reminded it was mighty cold," she recalled. While Cooke said having her butt exposed was "Bloody freezing," she knew she couldn't let it stop her, or her team would be disqualified. With a fitted wardrobe like that needed for racing, it's no surprise that one false move would cause a rip. She told The Sun, "It's a good way to break the ice, especially with new team-mates - it always gets a laugh." The racer did point out though, "I'm just so grateful I was wearing underwear that day." Cooke seemed to be sporting a black thong, a reasonable choice to wear under those super-tight racing suits that would probably cling to any other kind of undergarments. It was like a full, up-the-crotch, dramatic opening." Yet, like his competition incident, Daley didn't stress the extra skin, adding, "It was a conversation starter."Ĭooke didn't seem too embarrassed, however, and even found something positive in splitting her pants. He explained to GQ, "I changed into these trousers when I got out of the cab they ripped. However, the diver did learn something from that particular wardrobe malfunction, saying, "From then on, I've made sure I've done up my trunks extra tight."įor Daley, that wouldn't be the last time the Olympic gold medalist accidentally revealed more than planned though, since he did rip his pants while attending the Met Gala. "What can you do? There was lots of bubbles going on so no one saw too much," he said. and by the time I hit the water my trunks were literally around my ankles and of course it's live on the big screens, my bum comes up on the screen." While Daley said he "was absolutely mortified," he seemed to brush off the incident. The athlete recalled the moment on YouTube, explaining during a Q&A with fans, "I forgot to do my trunks up.
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