Japanese Stone Pebbles - AKAMA Stone - purification design interior bracelet made in japan

AKAMA Stone

Producing district: Yamaguchi Prefecture

Meanings: money luck, career advancement, change

This is a famous stone from Yamaguchi Prefecture, which has produced many people who have changed the history of Japan. It is a Mesozoic stone made of diabase tuff, but it is reddish brown to purple in color. The stone is characterized by its toughness, fineness, and smoothness, as it contains a lot of quartz and iron. The stratum from which Akama stone is mined is about 10 meters deep, but only 1 meter of it can be used as material. It has a long history as a material for inkstones, dating back to the Kamakura period. It is also valuable as an art, and is traded at a high price. The Akama inkstone, which is said to have been dedicated by Minamoto no Yoritomo, still exists at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. The name comes from the fact that inkstone production began in Akamagaseki, Shimonoseki City. During the Edo period, it could not be mined without permission from the Choshu clan, and the amount in circulation was limited, making it a "phantom Japan stone." It became a valuable item that was necessary and difficult to obtain, so it was used as a gift to the clan lord. Even now, it is prohibited to take large raw stones out of the prefecture.