History of Uwajima Pearls and Our Region | Tensei Pearl
The hometown that nurtures our pearls
The story of Yura Peninsula,
told by the sea and its people.
Life on Yura Peninsula in Uwajima and the history of pearl cultivation: an introduction to the local history that leads to our craft today.
A community that lives with the sea
In 1627, to create a source of income for the domain, the Uwajima Domain set up "kesshutsu-ami" (cooperative fishing organizations) in Sugeshi, Nari and Hirai on Yura Peninsula, the finest fishing ground in the Uwa Sea. Led by the net owners, people cleared the mountains and built terraced fields to secure food, and fishing began in this remote place. That is how the villages were born.
During and after the war (around 1945), even the wheat and potatoes grown here were rationed food and were sent to the cities in the years of food shortage. Then the huge sardine catches from around 1945 to 1951 suddenly brought prosperity to the area.
But overfishing led to poor catches, demand shifted from food to industrial products, and low prices for wheat and potatoes made life even harder. At that time the cities were booming, and workers left the peninsula for the cities.
The spread of pearl cultivation
Meanwhile, after the war, pearl cultivation started again in Mie Prefecture. With free trade and worldwide inflation, Japanese pearls sold well, and as one of Japan's star industries, production and exports kept doubling again and again.
As the market grew, Murata Pearl from Mie Prefecture settled in Arashi village here in the Shimonada area.
During this period, the pearl industry started in many places as Akoya oyster production for pearl farmers from Mie Prefecture. Soon, several local people set out to cultivate pearls in the Uwa Sea.
From 1966, overproduction caused prices to drop sharply, and exports fell dramatically.
Even so, thanks to the hard work of those pioneers, pearls from Yura Peninsula, a wonderful fishing ground free of pollution, were traded as the very best, and production grew little by little.
In 1975, Ehime became Japan's top pearl-producing prefecture, and the peninsula boomed with pearls. Whole families worked hard from early morning until late at night. It was as if this beautiful sea gave endless riches.
To the next generation
From around 1994, mass deaths of pearl oysters struck the area. The definite cause is still not known today.
At that time Ehime produced 90% of Japan's pearl mother oysters, so pearl production across Japan fell sharply.
In the midst of this devastation, the hard-working farmers of this area kept improving their skills, and in 2007 one of them won first prize at the Ehime pearl competition.
While continuing to cultivate pearls ourselves, we wish to deliver each pearl, a gift of the rich sea and the result of our producers' constant effort.
