Japanese Commodity 4- Japanese Pearls

Pearls are gemstones extracted from shellfish and are few in number. Pearls are divided into natural and cultured pearls.

Today, most of the pearls are cultured.

Pearls of superior quality are called hanadama pearls.

Most pearls cultured in Japan today are Akoya pearls.

These pearls, known as black pearls, are produced from the black-lipped pearl oyster of the South Seas (the most typical are from Tahiti in French Polynesia).

These pearls come from the white-lipped pearl oyster, the largest pearl oyster in the South Seas (which can be over 30 cm long).

Some pearls can grow up to 19 mm in diameter due to the size of the pearl oyster itself.

Freshwater pearls are mainly from large bivalve shells called ikecho-gai, and are cultured in Japan in lakes such as Lake Biwa, but many are imported from China.

*There are other types of pearls.

In Japan, Kokichi Mikimoto of Japan succeeded in producing semicircular pearls from cultured Akoya oysters in Ago Bay in 1893, and in 1905, Kokichi Mikimoto collected spherical pearls with semicircular nuclei in the same bay (various theories exist).

We can see that at first they started out cultivating semi-circular pearls and then succeeded in cultivating round pearls as we know them today.

No. 1, Ehime 7,664 kg

No. 2, Nagasaki, 6,894 kg

No. 3, Mie 4,138 kg

Total 20,124 kg

As for pearls, Ehime Prefecture seems to be number one, although reading the above story about pearl cultivation for the first time, I think it might be Mie Prefecture.

 Have you been tempted to buy and wear pearls yourself or give them as gifts to your loved ones?

MIKIMOTO

 Japanese women are thrilled to hear the word.

External Sites

https://www.mikimoto.com/

TASAKI

Japanese women are also thrilled to hear this word.

External Sites

https://www.tasaki.co.jp/jewellery/

The sight of Japanese pearls is inspiring not only to Japanese women, but also to men and women of all ages around the world.

Japanese pearls are a gift, of course, but they are also an item that you want to hold in your hand for yourself or on anniversaries.