I gave a presentation about our precious Japan Kasumi pearls.
For those of you who asked for the presentation in print.. or who couldn’t make it.
Here is my presentation and a few more accompanying slides.
WWII with $20 and a camera.
pearls in 1938.
Fuji Voll (my teacher) grew up with an intimate knowledge of the pearl industry.
Here he is at the age of 3 in 1951 at the family pearl farm in Japan.
By the early 1950’s Pacific Pearls had a retail shop in the Ginza district of Tokyo ..
selling mostly Akoya pearl jewelry to tourists and also fresh water pearls from Lake Biwa in Japan.
It was during this golden age of pearls that Rudolf met Mr. Uda… They stayed friends for 40 more years.
Mr. Uda was to fresh water pearls what Mikimoto was to Akoya pearls.. he was the money bags.
(note his henchmen) :)
Dr. Fujita was Mr. Uda’s teacher, he was also directly responsible for populating Lake Kasumi ga Ura with pearly mussels from Lake Biwa in Japan.
Decades later he created the first pearl farmers cooperative in Lake Kasumi ga Ura.
Kasumi ga Ura translates to the “body of water beyond the mist”.
Located some 40 miles from Tokyo, it is not really a lake but a gigantic river delta that flows to the Pacific Ocean.
Pearls are farmed in the river tributaries
Pictured here in the Spring. It is teeming with life.
Today Japan Kasumi pearls are produced using a hybrid mussel.. a cross between the
Japanese Hyriopsis shlegelii
and the
Chinese Hyriopsis Cumingii
The nucleation method used today is based on Mr. Uda’s technique from the 1920’s!!
Using an ice pick the technician picks up the thru- drilled bead and a small piece of mantel tissue.
After the bead is insterted into the body of the animal, the mantel tissue is slightly sucked up into the hole of the bead, ensuring a higher percentage of retention.
This is an x-ray of a strand of Japan Kasumi pearls ,
it was made by our family dentist..
You can see the crossing lines of drilled nucleus and drilled pearl.
By the 1980’s Lake Biwa was not producing pearls, the water level was much too low and pollution had taken it’s toll.
Lake Kasumi has also suffered great loss due to pollution, although it has never completely ceased to grown pearls.
At it’s height there were 30 pearl farms, today there are only 3!!!
After the fall of Lake Biwa and the near disasters at Lake Kasumi many Japanese technicians looked to China for work..
many of them were misled with lofty promises.
In the end the seeding techniques that they brought with them gave rise to the pearls we see coming out of China today.
The farmers currently in production in Lake Kasumi today did a HUGE amount of work with the local government to help clean up the lake.
Working to ensure it’s health for generations to come.
BOW DOWN!
Having grown up with Mr. Uda, Fuji met Yanasesan in the early 1980’s.
Fuji was his first customer when he started producing bead nucleated pearls in Lake Kasumi.
(Yanasesan had , for two decades prior been producing tissue nucleated pearls in Lake Kasumi which were bought by OPEC countries and most likely marketed as natural pearls)
I have been accompanying Fuji on buying trips to Lake Kasumi ga Ura since 1996.
I’ve seen them through great years of success and times of deep sorrow.
(in 2003 there was a horrible blight, and in 2011 a devastating earthquake .. both of these events compromised pearl production in big numbers)
We visit the pearl farm once or twice a year and personally choose each and every pearl we bring to market.
Like almost any harvest, most of the pearls are baroque.. With Japan Kasumi, it is the baroque pearls that have the characteristic dreamy color play and dramatic metallic luster.
Round Japan Kasumi pearls are quite precious and often command much more formal attention worldwide.
There are absolutely NO treatments done to Japan Kasumi pearls.
After harvest they are rubbed with salt and washed with fresh water.
Japan Kasumi pearls are NEVER dyed black, silver or any other color.
Why would you buy Japan Kasumi pearls, especially with China producing similar pearls for often a fraction of the price.
Provenance and the story of the three remaining farmers at Lake Kasumi ga Ura is what sells these pearls.
Like Sea of Cortez pearls and Kamoka pearls.. these pearls are special and they are rare.
Often times the challenges far outweigh the benefits of farming and yet these pearl farmers persevere.
Every year I field dozens of emails from people asking if their pearls are truly from Lake Kasumi ga Ura.
I have written numerous blog posts about the subject.
I won’t bore you with all the inane details of these emails.. but in short these were all sales that happened because of a lack of knowledge on both the seller and the customers part.
As we all know with on line shopping, if it seems to good to be true.. it IS!
Japan Kasumi pearls will never be the same price as Chinese fresh water pearls..
there is just too big of adiscrepancy in cost of living and size of production.
If you are buying pearls to get a “good deal” and pay less.
Japan Kasumi pearls are not for you.
They are special and rare and they always will be.
As a side note : Kasumiga is a BRAND NAME.. it should not be confused with provenance.
So let’s say it out loud together.
They are called Japan Kasumi
Japan Kasumi pearls.
NOT ANYTHING ELSE..
Just JAPAN KASUMI PEARLS.
We believe in the magic of Japan Kasumi pearls..
We believe in the power of pearls to be the canaries of the waters they are grown in.
The more money and attention that is paid to pearls, the more likely the farmers are to ensure clean waters for their animals.
Pearls are the ONE and ONLY gem in the entire jewelry industry that is actually GOOD for the environment..
and these last remaining farmers did their part to keep this water as healthy as it can be.
They deserve our respect and attention.
