Note 32 — Chapter XVII · Culture Mixing in Japan

Henri L. Joly, writing on the tama, says32 it is also “represented in the form of a pearl tapering to a pointed apex, and scored with several rings. It receives amongst other names Nio-i-Hojiu, and more rarely of Shinshi, the latter word being used for the spherical jewel, one of the three relics left to Ninigi no Mikoto33 by his grandmother, Amaterâsu.34 The necklace of Shinshi, mentioned in the traditions, was lost, and in its place a large crystal ball, some three or four inches in diameter, is kept and carried by an aide-de-camp of the Emperor on State occasions.”