What’s In a Pocchiri? Part 3

I’m really excited to continue this series as I get to share wonderful jewellery with everyone and some of the cool stories behind them! If there’s any specific piece that you’d like me to see covered then let me know! Otherwise, I’m just going to pick from the many available images of some seriously beautiful pieces ^^!

Image courtesy of 3LAPhoto. Materials: Jade, Coral, and Silver Motifs: Komainu Owned By: Kanoya (叶家) in Gion Higashi I chose this one next as the motif in the center is really interesting and this piece has undergone a slight transformation over the years. First, let’s look at the motifs. The main one is Komainu (狛犬), which are Japanese lion dogs. They’re famous for guarding the entrances to important places, such as shrines and temples. The animals are always found in pairs as the two represent both male and female (yin and yang) and “a/あ” and “un/うん,“ which is the Buddhist equivalent of alpha and omega. To learn more about Komainu click here for a wonderful article ^^! Breaking down the materials, this piece uses two different colors of jade, specifically a semi-translucent green variety that’s the color of grass. The second is the arguably more valuable but more opaque white/green jade. Between the pieces of grass colored jade we can also see two coral balls to complete the symmetry and bring to mind the traditional yin/yang dichotomy. From older images that I’ve found the coral on the right was actually replaced! It seems as though it was once as small as the one on the left, but broke off at some point. Since the two pieces of jade are no longer the same size it’s likely that a small part of the jade broke off with the coral as jade isn’t very hard overall. The repair involved a new piece of coral that is larger to fit the hole and is now secured into the place with a pin.  As an example, you can see it worn by maiko Kanohiro (叶紘) here:

Image courtesy of Chuan Lai.