Women of the sea: Korea’s oldest free divers
abc.net.au
abc.net.au
I am sure there are a number of interesting comparisons to be made and probably some historical connection between the two. However, these kinds of cultural similarities between Japan and Korea are rarely discussed, probably due to the nationalist animosity between the two countries.
Your link doesn't appear to actually say that?
> The first mention of female divers in literature does not come until the 17th century, when a monograph of Jeju geography describes them as jamnyeo (literally "diving women").[2]: 101
I think both date them using written records and I think they both started earlier than those records. So probably they started at around the same time? I really don't know. I just wanted to point out that the OP's argument doesn't seem valid.
- Descriptions of Jeju's Natural Features (제주풍토기, 濟州風土記) is written in 1628--1635 and contains the first direct mention of diving women and a term for them (jamnyeo).
- Jeju, the kingdom of Tamna at that time, was annexed by the mainland Goryeo in 1105. The new governor Yoon Eung-gyun (윤응균, 尹應均) issued a decree to forbid men and women to dive together, suggesting diving women existed back then.
- Jeju was well known for its goods for the king since at least 503 (according to the History of Three Kingdoms [삼국사기, 三國史記]), so there must have been some divers in Jeju, probably both men and women inferred from later records.
In the hypothesis it wasn't the case, Japanese are indeed good at "Japanese-washing" successful people, by ignoring their foreign roots when convenient, while doing the reverse for people less successful. A pretty recent example is that of Momofuku Ando, inventor a cup ramen, born Taiwanese.
My grand father escaped from Jeju when he was in early 20s. I wish he was still alive, so I could ask about the history. I have relatives, but always interesting to read these articles about people living in the area.
https://www.lisasee.com/books-new/the-island-of-sea-women/
I mean, beautiful nature shots, tough women, exotic theme, heart wrenching story of friendship between women.
Not to forget, Korean film enjoys growing popularity.
You could even exploit a lot of ecological topics.
What could possibly go wrong?
They inherit the job from their mothers.
They used to dive while pregnant, often through the whole pregnancy.
For generations.
And up to a ripe old age
They may have inherited more physical characteristics.Could come in handy with rising sea levels
It is a bit sad that the profession is dying. And with it probably the physical characteristics.
Freediver here. As humans, and more importantly mammals, we’re all surprisingly adaptable from a physiological perspective.
Check this out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_reflex
2) Scuba Gear requires maintenance
3) Scuba Gear requires a compressor which is more expense and maintenance.
4) You can free dive all day and not have to a damn about decompression times (exceptions occur for very aggressive repeated deep drives, which is not happening here). This is untrue for Scuba
5) Clearly there is a cultural component to this.