The footage from the 1930s, probably produced by the Mikimoto Pearl company, showcases the Mikimoto Pearl company pearl-farming operation, starting with the founder and inventor of pearl farming, Kokichi Mikimoto himself. The film details the entire process of seeding, growing, and harvesting of pearl, and making pearl jewelry. The movie also features footage of the famous Japanese sightseeing spots, such as the Tokyo Imperial palace, Great Buddha of Kamakura, footage of the first statue of the Great Buddha of Kobe/Hyogo (1893-1944), seascapes of the Ago and Gokasho Bays, the sites of Kintai bridge of Iwakuni, and the Itsukushima shrine in Hiroshima.

0:07 Some sort of draped archway

0:09 An elderly Kokichi Mikimoto (1858-1954) – founder of Mikimoto Pearl and the inventor of pearl-farming

0:20 Card: Mikimoto Pearl Farm, at Gulf of Gokasho

0:28-0:55 footage of the Gokasho bay and the fishing and pearl-farming village thereof.0:55 Floating pearl diving stations being dragged back towards the shore by the women1:30 A floating pearl diving station with a full team of women-pearl diver departs

1:31 Card: Girl pearl divers

1:35 A pearl-divers prepares for her dive, as now, at the time they were purely free divers (holding their breath), and had no fins at the time.

1:58-2:04 Pearl diver women stern-skulling

2:05 The view of the bay

2:10 Having arrived they’re putting on their diving masks, held on by rope links

2:30 Jumping into the water, each of them have their own bucket to collect pearl shells2:38-3:50 Underwater footage of them diving and harvesting shell into small handbackets to be put into their floating buckets upon surfacing.

3:51 Collected shells are being opened

4:00 Women, checking empty top part of the shell for remaining pearls

4:09 In the center of the room, men, harvesting the pearls, while near the windows jewelry workers are sorting pearls into size and quality lots.

4:16 Dissolve shot onto the jewelry worker

4:25-5:12 Animation, showing the extraction of the pearl with tweezers

5:16 Card: Oyster cages »

5:20-5:40 Women, organizing stacked oyster cages

5:44 Card: Tampo(nursery) from which oyster cages are suspended »

5:53 Oyster nursery in the calm part of the bay near the shore.

6:09 Suspending oyster cages for attaching the roe and growing

6:25 Taking out grown oysters

6:31 Card: Scraping off weeds and barnacles from shells

6:58 Installing the now clean oysters into cages for further maturation

7:24 Card: Baby oysters

7:28 Growth process and sizes of an oyster from inception to 10 years (when harvested)

8:14 Line of workers cleaning oysters, harvesting pearls which are immediately put into saltwater for preservation, opposite table – harvesting mother-of-pearl

8:28 Card: Glittering pearls

8:30-8:53 Cleaning pearls with water, in a sieve, then gently wiping them with a cloth

8:54 Card: Necklace factory at Toba

8:56 – 9:59 Women-jewelry-workers are transforming little mounds of pearls into necklaces.

10:04 A Japanese woman in a kimono playing with unprocessed clean pearls

10:15 … and her, in a western dress, now with a necklace

10:25 The wall and the corner guard tower of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo

10:57-11:20 The Kamakura Great Buddha

11:32 A Westerner in a jinrikisha, by a medicine shop, fire alarm on a telegraph pole behind him.

11:36 Pan towards the street and the crowds, people in warm clothing

11:46 Children near the side-entrance to the old statue of Nofukuji Temple Kobe Great Buddha, now known as Hyogo Daibutsu, before its destruction in 1944, surrounded by votive posts

12:01 – 12:28 Views of the old Great Buddha of Kobe / Hyogo

12:29-12:40 Street scenes: Older woman praying at the incense burner

12:42 Street scenes: Mother with toddler on her back, Western gentleman pets the todler on the nose

12:45 People at the temple entrance, warming themselves, an old man praying, women eating noodles at a noodle stand in the temple, children and toddlers.

13:42 Same scene of 12:42 filmed by a different cameraman

13:50 Street scenes: A greengrocer’s delivery cart, employee, wearing a uniform with shop crest

14:00 Seascapes of Gokasho and Ago Bays

14:29-14:50 2 and 3-mast Japanese schooners

14:54 A pilot steamboat. The pilot departs the ship.

15:15 Men, wearing AEIPI Fraternity (?) hats

15:29 Kintai bridge, Iwakuni, Japan during the spring cherry-blossom festival

16:01 Women feeding deer with the sea Torii of Itsukushima Shrine, Hiroshima prefecture, Hiroshima, in the b/g

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com