There are oysters - and oysters. Some are for eating (as I wrote in the South China Morning Post) belonging to the family ostreidae. And then there are pearl oysters for wearing around your neck (or in your underwear), called pinctada, which are part of the pteriidae family.
I also love that model Song Weilong (an avid pearl wearer) is defying stereotypes and reviving the idea that pearl wearing was much less gender specific in ancient times. Speaking of days of yore, according to some historians, one of the reasons Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 B.C. was to obtain freshwater pearls. And, of course, I am interested in all of this.
Just a three-hour bullet train ride from Tokyo lies a quiet bay - the perfect place to find some peace. Its natural beauty, which includes the bluest ocean and dots of green islands everywhere, brings instant reverence. But Ago Bay is more than a Japanese jewel - it’s a place where real-life jewels are born.
Speaking of Japan - listen to my podcast episode where Mother and I venture around Japan fitting kimonos and finding crazy vending machines. Click HERE.
Since 1893, when a Japanese entrepreneur named Kochiki Mikimoto created the first cultured pearl in Shima, Ago has been the pearl capital of the world. “The best pearl production here was [equivalent to $16 billion] per year in a peak season so the pearl industry is one of the most important industries for local people,” says Kazuhiko Yasu of the Shima Tourism Association. “And of course, it also delivers employment.”
Ago Bay, an estuary filled with calm waters and sheltered inlets, is warmed by offshore currents. It’s the perfect environment for pearl farming. And so this is where Mikimoto received his patent for producing hemispherical pearls (called mabes) in 1896. In 1908 he received an updated patent for culturing in mantle tissue (think grafting), but had to incorporate a method invented by his son-in-law. By 1916 the method was called the “Part-of-the-cells technique” and was patented as Mise-Nishikawa Pearl Grafting.
And so Shima and its northern neighbor, Toba City, have become havens for pearl producers. “Mikimoto succeeded to farm the first pearl oyster in Ojima in Toba, which today is well known as Mikimoto Pearl Island,” explains Matsuzuki. “After his success, he started pearl oyster cultivation business and the company has been going successfully until today.” (Since natural pearls are smaller than farmed or cultured pearls and the shape is not as predictable, cultured pearls offered Mikimoto more control over his loot.)
Let’s nerd out a little: the process of farming pearls is two fold. First is the cultivation of oysters that produce pearls, or akoyagai in Japanese. Then, cultured pearls are produced like this: a small nucleus bead is inserted into the oyster, along with mantle tissue from a donor shell to serve as a catalyst for the pearl sac. A lustrous nacre, or inner layer of mother-of-pearl, forms on the outside. And then, as if by magic, you have pearls. In the case of Akoya pearls, this process takes between three to four years.