New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

×

The geology and mineralogy of Japan are quite diverse, and there are a number of classic mineral locations that are still well known among collectors. Certainly the icon of Japanese minerals is stibnite from the Ichinokawa mine, Ehime Prefecture (1). Other most notable minerals include and their classic locations:

• Topaz, aquamarine, quartz, and microdine, Tanakamiyama, Shiga Prefecture (2)
• Chalcopyrite, Hisaichi mine, Akita Prefecture (3)
• Rhodochrosite, Oppu mine, Aomori Prefecture (4)
• Axinite and arsenopyrite, Obira mine, Oita Prefecture (5)
• Pyroxmangite, Taguchi mine, Sitara, Aichi Prefecture (6)
• Chalcopyrite and fluorapatite, Ashio, Tochigi Prefecture (7)
• Topaz, quartz, and microcline, Naegi district, Gifu Prefecture (8)
• Chalcopyrite, Arakawa mine, Akita Prefecture (9)
• Bournonite, Chichibu mine, Saitama Prefecture (10)
• Japan-law twinned quartz and ferberite pseudomorphs after scheelite, Otome mine, Yamanashi Prefecture (11)
• Japan-law twinned quartz, Narushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture (12)

In recent years it has been unusual for specimens from new mineral finds to make it out of Japan in any quantity. A few exceptions, which have created a lot of interest, include: henmilite, Fuka mine, Okayama Prefecture type location (13); iridescent andradite, Kouse mine, Yoshino, Nara Prefecture (14); and mica pseudomorphs after cordierite, Yunohana, Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture (15).

In the early to middle twentieth century four major mineral collections were assembled that are considered today to be the preeminent collections of Japanese minerals in Japan. These are the Wada (later to become part of the Mitsubishi collection), the Sakurai, the Ko, and the Wakabayashi collections. Each has its own strength, but in terms of specimen quality and quantity the Wada collection is unsurpassed. All of these collections have superlative examples of the minerals listed above as well as many exceptional specimens from locations that are much less familiar to western mineral collectors. In my presentation, Mineralogical Meanderings in Japan, I will take the audience on a pictorial tour of these four collections as well as other geographic, cultural, and mineralogical sites.