Description: This listing is individually-priced; the group pic is just to give a sense of the range of variations in each one. Nowadays, most people think a magatama is an off-center glass seed bead. But originally, the term belonged to "curved jewels" (the literal translation) like the ones here: stones carved into a comma-like shape whose significance is lost to the ages. Different sources claim it's meant as mimicry of a drop of water, a sprouting seed, a tongue of flame, or even an embryo-- maybe all of the above, for all I know. Whatever its origin, the magatama has always had a special status in Japan; even now, one of the sacred Imperial treasures is said to be a magatama necklace handed down from the sun-goddess Amaterasu. These magatama are made of yellow jade, probably nephrite rather than jadeite. I suspect they may've been color-treated, since their hues are oddly uniform in most cases and have a faint greenish tinge I can only compare to a banana slug or unripe lemon. (In traditional Asian symbolism, yellow is the color of the element of Earth, whose direction is the Center and whose planet is Saturn. However, the Western occult tradition assigns it to the element of Air in the direction of East. Don't ask me, I just sell magatama.) The sizes bounce around a bit, but on the average, they're 30mm long, 15mm from front to back of the "head", and 8mm straight through the 3mm-wide drillhole, which is wide enough to string onto a leather thong or silk cord to wear as a pendant. If you use thinner cordage, I recommend threading four or five seedbeads onto it to line the drillhole, if that makes sense; they'll buffer the magatama's full weight and make it hang more smoothly, imho. I have no idea how well a chain would hold up, assuming you can feed the clasp through the hole. Please check my other listings for more pretties, and thanks for looking! ^_^
Price: 8.99 USD
Location: San Bruno, California
End Time: 2024-05-16T22:09:43.000Z
Shipping Cost: 3 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Return policy details:
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Item must be returned within: 14 Days
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
Restocking Fee: No
