Toba and Ago Bay: Where the Cultured Pearl Was Born
In 1893 Kokichi Mikimoto harvested the world's first cultured pearls in these waters. Toba's pearl island, its museum and its diving women explain how.
South of Ise, Ago Bay was historically known as the pearl production capital of Japan, and it became famous for the Akoya pearl after the Akoya oyster was successfully cultivated. The Japan National Tourism Organization describes Toba, on the neighbouring bay, as the birthplace of Japanese pearl cultivation and as a place known for its pearl divers.
The man behind it was Kokichi Mikimoto, who harvested the world’s first cultured pearls in 1893 according to the Visit Mie tourism site. Many people doubted at the time that culturing pearls was possible, and he did not start out wealthy. Mikimoto Pearl Island, a small island in Toba linked to the mainland by a bridge and a few minutes’ walk from Toba Station, is where he first successfully cultivated a pearl. A path circles the island past monuments and his statue, in his trademark hat and cape, and the Kokichi Mikimoto Memorial Hall covers his life and how his company became known worldwide.
The island also houses the first pearl museum in Japan, which explains the process. A polished piece of shell is inserted into an Akoya oyster, which coats the irritant in nacre and so forms a pearl. Many oysters die from the trauma of the insertion, and only about one in five produces a good pearl. Pearls are graded by size, shape, composition, colour and lustre. The galleries hold pearl jewellery from around the world and Mikimoto works made for international exhibitions, including a one-third scale model of the Liberty Bell made with over 12,000 pearls and 366 diamonds, and the five-storied pagoda modelled on the pagoda at Horyuji Temple in Nara, made of pearls, mother-of-pearl and platinum.
Pearls are only half the story. Diving demonstrations by ama, the all-female divers of the region, are held on the island several times a day, and the women wear white diving suits and dive without oxygen tanks. Before pearl culture, the ama also searched shells for natural pearls. Commentary is given in Japanese, with a side room offering English explanations. On the Shima side of the park, visitors can also try making pearl jewellery.
The island is about ten minutes by train from Isuzugawa Station, near the Ise Shrine Naiku, so it fits easily into a two-day itinerary with Ise-jingu and the Meoto Iwa rocks. Opening hours and show times change with the season, so check the official site before travelling.
Sources
Visit Mie, Mikimoto Pearl Island; Japan National Tourism Organization, Food and Culture in Ise; JNTO, Ise-Shima National Park.
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