Itoigawa Jade prayer bead

Japan Stones: Itoigawa Jade 

Producing district: Niigata Prefecture

This is jade from Itoigawa, carefully carved into the shape of a magatama, a traditional Japanese comma-shaped bead.

The stone features a soft green hue with natural marbling and is made from jade (jadeite) sourced from Itoigawa, Japan’s officially designated national stone.

Each magatama is hand-carved by skilled artisans in Kofu, a town renowned as the "City of Gemstone Polishing."

Itoigawa jade is highly valued both domestically and internationally as one of the world’s finest examples of gem-grade jadeite, and is the only such jade found in Japan.

The jade is sourced from the Kotaki area along the upper reaches of the Hime River and the Hashidate area along the upper reaches of the Ōmi River, both of which flow into the Sea of Japan.
Some of these regions are designated natural monuments due to their geological significance.

While raw jadeite from Myanmar—another highly regarded jade source—often forms a brown weathered crust, jade from Itoigawa, especially that found along the coastline, is naturally beautiful even in its raw form.

Unlike Myanmar, where large-scale commercial mining is active, Itoigawa jade is preserved in a near-natural state, making it extremely rare on the market and adding to its exceptional value.

Size : 20.7x29.8x10.6mm
Weight: 10.8g