Women's Prayer Beads, Yakusugi (Yaku Cedar), 8-Sun Furiwake Style, Shingon Sect, Citrine Finish

Women's Prayer Beads, Yakusugi (Yaku Cedar), 8-Sun Furiwake Style, Shingon Sect, Citrine Finish

Ordinary cedar is said to live around 500 years, but Yakusugi refers only to cedar trees on Yakushima over 1,000 years old. Yakushima is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and these prayer beads are crafted from that same protected forest, using only naturally fallen timber. Yakusugi is known among woods for its unusually fine, tightly packed growth rings, and like all wood beads it deepens in color and richness the more it is used. Here it is finished with citrine on the top and parent beads; citrine's golden, sun-like glow has long been considered a stone of fortune, associated with business prosperity and wealth. Made up in Shingon sect style: in Shingon sect tradition, this sect is sometimes credited as the first to bring prayer beads to Japan, and its formal strand closely resembles the universal style used across the eight major sects, typically featuring two tassels each on front and back strung with a red cord -- the same style, slightly lengthened, that Shikoku pilgrims traditionally carry.

Product Specifications

Item Number: 6912660000000
Parent Bead (Oyadama): Approx. 0.39 in (1.0 cm) – Citrine
Main Beads (Shudama): Approx. 0.20 in x 0.28 in (0.5 x 0.7 cm) – Yakusugi
Top Bead (Tendama): Approx. 0.16 in (0.4 cm) – Citrine
Note: Shingon sect, furiwake style, 8-sun length.