Changes

::''Not to be confused with ''ama'' (尼), referring to Buddhist [[nuns]].''

::''Not to be confused with ama (''尼''), referring to Buddhist [[nuns]].''

*''Japanese'': 海女 ''(ama)''

*''Japanese'': 海女 or 海人 ''(ama)''

''Ama'' were female shelldivers who collected [[abalone]], [[turbo]] shells, and certain other highly prized marine products. As abalone, and certain other of the goods they collected, were highly prized by the [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunal]] and imperial courts, and as export/[[tribute]] goods, ''ama'' enjoyed considerable official protections and privileges, at least in the [[Edo period]]. Though typically of low social status, coming from fishing/villager families, ''ama'' were also frequently eroticized in literature and the visual arts.

''Ama'' were female shelldivers who collected [[abalone]], [[turbo]] shells, and certain other highly prized marine products. As abalone, and certain other of the goods they collected, were highly prized by the [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunal]] and imperial courts, and as export/[[tribute]] goods, ''ama'' enjoyed considerable official protections and privileges, at least in the [[Edo period]]. Though typically of low social status, coming from fishing/villager families, ''ama'' were also frequently eroticized in literature and the visual arts.