Note 30 — Chapter XVII · Culture Mixing in Japan

The jewels (tama) worn by gods and human beings were not, as already insisted upon, merely ornaments, but objects possessing “soul substance”. These are referred to in the oldest Shinto books. In ancient Japanese graves archæologists have found round beads (tama), “oblong perforated cylinders” or “tube-shaped beads” (kuda-tama), and “curved” or “comma-shaped30 beads” (maga-tama). According to W. Gowland, “the stones of which maga-tama are made are rock-crystal, steatite, jasper, agate, and chalcedony, and more rarely chrysoprase and nephrite (jade)”. He notes that “the last two minerals are not found in Japan”.31