Note 110 — Chapter XIII · The Symbolism of Jade

As we have seen, jade contains, according to Far Eastern belief, the essence of heat as well as of moisture. It contains, too, the essence of cold—not the cold of winter but the coolness desired in hot weather.110 In the Tu yang tsa pien, a Chinese work of the ninth century, it is recorded that the Emperor of China received from Japan “an engraved gobang board of warm jade, on which the game could be played in winter without getting cold, and that it was most highly prized”. It is told in this connection that “thirty thousand li (leagues) east of Japan is the island of Tsi-mo, and upon this island the Ninghia Terrace, on which terrace is the Gobang Player’s Lake. This lake produces the chess-men which need no carving, and are naturally divided into black and white. They are warm in winter, cool in summer, and known as cool and warm jade. It also produces the catalpa-jade, in structure like the wood of the catalpa tree, which is carved into chess-boards, shining and brilliant as mirrors.”111