P a r t 3 : Ko Mineral Collection, Osakaand Tokyo Shows, and Collecting Sakura/s/i/and Rainbow Garnets

JOHN RAKOVANDepartment of GeologyMiami UniversityOxford, Ohio 45056rakovajf@muohio.edu

Pacific

Ocean

N

500 kilometsrs AFigure 1. Map of Japan, by William Besse.

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The Ko Mineral Collection, Kyushu University

At the end of March, I paid a visit to Kyushu Universitywhere the Ko collection is housed. This is another ofthe top four collections of Japanese minerals in Japan.

The Ko collection is particularly important hecause of thelarge to very large (many specimens can be measured infeet), well-crystallized specimens from Japanese locations.It was assembled by the late Dr. Sokichi Ko, a professor ofeconomic geology in the Department of Mining at KyushuUniversity from 1911 to 1929. There are roughly twelvehundred specimens representing 159 mineral species, mostlyfrom Japan with a concentration of specimens from theore deposits of Kyushu. Most specimens were site-collectedbetween the 1890s and the 1930s. Shirozu et al. (1971) pub-lished a comprehensive catalogue of the collection; it is inJapanese with an abstract and all mineral names in English.Today, the collection is in an exhibition room in the Fac-ulty of Sciences at Kyushu University's Hakozaki Campusin Fukuoka (fig. 2). Regrettably, hecause of a staff shortage,the exhibit is open to the public only twice a year, on 11 Mayand on the third Saturday of November. At the present timeKyushu University is slowly undergoing relocation, and thelong-term future of the display is uncertain. I was shown thecollection by Prof. Seiichiro Uehara, a mineralogist at theuniversity who specializes in the structure and chemistry ofserpentine-group minerals.

Arguably the most significant specimen in the Ko collectionis a magnificent arsenopyrite and quartz (Ko #1508) from theObira mine, Oita Prefecture. It is a huge matrix piece, measur-ing 52 X 30 cm, and is covered with sharp, prismatic crystals,elongate on [001] and dominated by (100) and (010) faces(fig. 3). Many of the crystals surpass 10 cm in length. Otherimportant specimens include numerous large groups (to40 cm across) of axinite, also from the Obira mine; chalco-pyrites from the Ani mine, Akita Prefecture, and the Ashiomine, Tochigi Prefecture; blue topaz crystals from Naegi,Gigu Prefecture; gadolinite from Ishigureminami, Mie Pre-fecture; and my personal favorites, numerous large matrixspecimens of fluorapatite from the Ashio mine, Tochigi Pre-fecture. Of the several collections that I have seen in Japan,this has the best suite of Ashio apatite specimens on display.Although it is not part of the Ko collection, one of the largeststibnites from the Ichinokawa mine, Ehime Prefecture (fig.4) can also be found at Kyushu University. The specimenmeasures 50 x 10 cm and is in the Faculty of Engineering.

A few days after my visit, Fukuoka experienced a signifi-cant earthquake (magnitude 7 on the Richter scale). Luckily,there was no major damage, but it was a reminder of thesomewhat tenuous nature of mineral collections in one ofthe most seismically active areas of the world. The electron

Dr. John Rakovan, an executive editor o/Rocks & Mineralsand a professor of mineralogy and geochemistry at MiamiUniversity in Oxford, Ohio, was, at the time of this writing,a visiting professor in the Graduate School of Human andEnvironmental Studies, Kyoto University, Japan.

Figure 2. The Ko collection display room, Kyushu University.

microscopes that Uehara-san uses in his research did notfare so well, and repairs were still in progress months later.

The Osaka Mineral ShowThe eleventh annual Osaka Mineral, Fossil, and Gem

Show, organized by the Masutomi Museum and run bysupporting members of the Japan Geological Studies Club(Chigakukenkyu-kai), was held in the Osaka MerchandiseMart, adjacent to the Keihan Temabashi train station from29 April to 1 May. Participating were 114 dealers, 20 ofwhom were from overseas, including 3 American dealerships(Petrov Rare Minerals, McNeil's Minerals, and AmidharaGems). There is no admission fee for the show, so an accu-rate attendance is not known; however, it is estimated bythe organizers that roughly ten thousand people came. In2004 the number of dealers doubled (contact the MasutomiMuseum for inquiries about participating in future shows),making the Osaka Show one of the four largest in Japan.The others are the annual Kyoto Show, also organized by theMasutomi Museum, and two shows that are held in Tokyo(see below). The show has a small exhibit room in whichspecimens, photographs, and other items related to particu-lar themes are displayed. This year the show themes wererecent research results on the geology of the Yamashiro hills;minerals of Nara Prefecture; and ornamental and buildingstones of famous historical locations in Kyoto, Osaka, andNara. One of the highlights was the recent find of iridescentandradite garnets from Kouse mine, Nara Prefecture. Also atthe show were a mineral identification booth, a kids activityarea where children and adults were polishing local fos-siliferous limestone for paperweights, and a series of threelectures that followed the topics of the show themes.

The Tokyo International Mineral FairThe eighteenth annual Tokyo International Mineral Fair,

organized by the Tokyo International Mineral Association(TIMA), was held 3-7 June in the Century Hyatt, Shinjuku,Tokyo. This is the largest and oldest continually running

Figure 3. Arsenopyrite, 52 cm across, Obira mine, Oita Prefecture;Ko collection (#1508), Kyushu University. Seiichiro Uehara photo.

Figure 4.Stihnite, 50 cmtall, Ichinokawamine, EhimePrefecture.SeiichiroUehara photo.

Figure 5. Fluorapatite, Ashio mine, Ashio, Tochigi Prefecture;Ko collection (#1149), Kyushu University. The crystals average1.5-2.0 cm across, and the plate is 30 cm. Seiichiro Uehara photo.

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Figure 6. Axinite, 32 cm across, Obira mine, Oita Prefecture; Ko collection(#1014), Kyushu University. Seiichiro Uehara photo.

Figure 8. Vivianite crystal, 3.5 cm long, Ashiomine, Ashio, Tochigi Prefecture; Kocollection (#1161), Kyushu University. SeiichiroUehara photo.

Figure 7. Topaz, 10 cm tall, Naegi, Gifu Prefecture;Ko collection (#940), Kyushu University. SeiichiroUehara photo.

Figure 9. AlfredoPetrov, KotaroWatanabe, and KiyoshiKiikuni (right to left)at the Osaka Mineral,Gem, and FossU Show.

mineral show in japan. This year, as in most, there were120 dealers, of which 80 were from overseas. There were 15American dealers, down from previous years, and numerousdealers from Western and Eastern Europe, China, South-east and Central Asia, and South America. Attendance atthe 2004 show was approximately ten thousand. Originalorganizers of the show were Dr. Hidemichi Hori of HoriMineralogy, Ltd. (minerals; http://www.hori.co.jp), Mr. K.Jimbo of Tokyo Science Co., Ltd. (fossils; http://www.tokyo-science.co.jp/), and Mr. Yoneo Suzuki of Planey Company,Ltd. (fossils, minerals, meteorites, and educational materials;http://www.planey.co.jp), who is no longer involved in theorganization of the Tokyo International Mineral Fair butnow organizes the Tokyo Mineral Show (another of the fourlargest shows in Japan), which is held every December inthe Sunshine City Building, Ikebukuro, Tokyo. At the pres-

ent time the chief organizer of the TIMA is Mr. ]. Ohshima,manager of the show hall.

One of the themes of this year's show was eurypterids,and there were many impressive specimens from aroundthe world on display. The highlight was Allan Langheinrich's(of Lang's Fossils) collection of eurypterids from the UpperSilurian Fiddler Green Formation of eastern New York State.Many of these magnificent creatures were for sale, and Allangave the final talk of the show on collecting them.

With the distinctly international group of dealers, it wasnot surprising that specimens from all corners of the globewere available for sale. I am far from being an expert on newmineral finds, but the fluorapatite crystals from the La Mari-na emerald mine, Borbur, Boyacd Department, Colombia,caught my attention at the show, even though they have beenreported on several times in the past few years. Pierre Vuillet

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of Samargand Resources, Ltd., had a number of sharp, lus-trous, pale to intense pink crystals that had been recoveredin spring 2005 (fig. 10). They included richly colored singlecrystals (to 3 cm in length), crystals in parallel intergrowths,and matrix specimens in asso-ciation with snow-white albitecrystals and a few with gemmyblue euclase crystals. I was toldthat emeralds are actually quiterare from this location and apa-tites associated with emeraldare few. As for minerals fromJapan, there were many localdealers with good representa-tive specimens and many of themore rare species. It seemedthat the American dealershad many more fine Japanesemineral specimens than thelocal dealers. Wayne Leicht ofKristalle had quite a few olderJapanese specimens, includingsome very nice rhodochrositesthat he recently acquired with acollection in the United States.Hisami and Jimmy McNeil ofMcNeil's Minerals always try tobring good Japanese specimensto the Tokyo and Osaka shows,and this year they had a nicesuite of apatite specimens fromthe Ashio mine, Tochigi Prefec-ture, Japan (fig. 11).

In part because of limitedspace at the Tokyo Internation-al Mineral Fair, in 2001, mem-bers of the Kanto Mineral Club[Kantou Kohutsu Doukoukai)started a small satellite show,called the Mineral Market(http://homepage3.nifty.com/suisho-toge/english.htmi). Thisyear it was held in Iidabashi(about twenty minutes by trainfrom Shinjuku station) and

featured about twenty dealers/collectors selling specimens(mostly seconds from their personal collections) from allover Japan. One collector of Japanese minerals, who willremain nameless, accompanied me to the show and endedup taking almost as many mineral specimens back to theUnited States as he brought to sell in Japan.

As mentioned, Dr. Hidemichi Hori is one of the found-ing members of the TIMA and organizer of this show. Hehas been active in professional and amateur mineralogy formore than a half-century, discovering and describing fournew minerals—ammonioleucite, kinichilite, stronalsite, andiwashiroite-(Y)—and publishing two popular amateur min-

Figure W. Huorapatite crystal, 2.8 cm tall, La Marinaemerald mine, Borhur, Boyacd Department, Colom-bia, as seen at the Tokyo International Mineral Fair.

Figure 11. Fluorapatite cluster, 1.8 cm across,Ashio mine, Ashio, Tochigi Prefecture, as seen atthe Tokyo International Mineral Fair.

eralogy books whose titles literally translated are MineralGuide Books for Common People, in Color. Several yearsafter finishing his doctorate in mineralogy under the guid-ance of Prof. M. Akizuki at Tohoku University, he started

Hori Mineralogy, Ltd., which hasbeen in business for over thirty yearsand was one of the first companiesto specialize in mineral specimens inJapan. Similar to Excalibur MineralCorporation in the United States,Hori Mineralogy also offers analyti-cal services, including powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescenceanalysis (see Rakovan 2004a,b), andoptical microscopy.

Spring Field TripsOne of the most popular holiday

periods in Japan is 29 April through5 May. Known as "golden week," itis definitely not a good time to betraveling around the country becausethe roads, trains, and accommoda-tions can be booked solid. Of course,Kyoto is one of the major destina-tions during this period, and avoid-ing any local road travel (i.e., buses)is advised. To shake the holidaycrowds, Alfredo Petrov and I decidedto spend several days visiting min-eral collecting sites in the outskirtsof Kyoto. The best place to get direc-tions and updates on collecting sitesin and around Kyoto is at the Masu-tomi Museum (see Rakovan 2005a).There is also a detailed field guide togeological sites in Kyoto Prefecture,but it is currently available only inJapanese (Masutomi 1995).

Our first day of collecting was inthe hills of Tanokamiyama, Otsucity limits, Shiga Prefecture. This isactually close to Kyoto, just over theeastern hills of the city, and can bereached by taking a twenty-minute

train ride from Kyoto station to Ishiyama, on the southend of Lake Biwa, and from there a local bus to the edge ofTanokamiyama. It is a large area of granite hills in whichnumerous pegmatites have been found through the years.The pegmatites have been worked for centuries for feldsparto be used by local ceramic kilns, including the makers ofthe famous Kiyomizu ware. Tanokamiyama is one of themost important Japanese localities for well-formed topazcrystals, and beautiful specimens can be seen in most majorJapanese collections. Other minerals commonly found inthe pegmatites here are large, well-formed feldspar andquartz crystals, tourmaline, zinnwaldite, and masutomilite

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Figure 12. Aldyoshi Okamoto, Alfredo Petrov, and John Rakovan(left to right) collecting sakura ishi, Kameoka-shi.

Figure 14. Cassit-erite crystal, 1.5 x1 cm, Gyoujayama

(near the Otanimine), Kameoka

City, KyotoPrefecture.

Figure 15.Iridescent

andradite crystal,1 cm across,Kouse mine,

Nara Prefecture.

Figure 13. Sakura ishi in matrix, Kameoka-shi.

(for which it is the type locality). One of the minerals mostsought after by collectors is topaz, and good crystals can still befound with a lot of hard work—and probably an equal amountof good luck.

Even if no minerals are uncovered on a trip to the area, itis a beautiful place to spend a day hiking. On our excursionwe had a poor translation of directions to the type local-ity for masutomilite, which is also known for yielding anoccasional topaz. Unfortunately, we never found this site,but we did fmd signs of an undiscovered pegmatite in talus(float) along a steep, heavily wooded hillside. These includedseveral nice specimens of graphic granite, fragments of largequartz crystals, and a well-crystallized but highly etched 9 x7-cm K-feldspar.

Our second collecting trip was to Kameoka City, which isjust over the western mountains of Kyoto and is also easilyaccessible by train by taking the JR Sagano line from Kyotostation to Kameoka. On this trip we were driven by Mr. Aki-yoshi Okamoto from the Masutomi Mineral Club. Mr. Oka-moto has been a serious field collector for more than fifty

years and has discovered several new minerals, includingokayamalite, hingganite-(Ce), and hingganite-(Ca). Kameo-ka is most famous (mineralogically) as the location for thebest examples of sakura ishi (cherry blossom stones).

If the Japanese were inclined to select prefectureal miner-als, as state minerals are chosen in the United States, thensakura ishi would be the obvious choice for Kyoto Prefec-ture. It is fortuitous that these relatively rare pseudomorphsof muscovite (sericite) after cordierite, which have a flower-like pattern in cross section, would be from an area so inti-mately associated with an admiration for cherry blossoms.Loose crystals can be found where the host rock (a dark gray,fine-grained hornfels) has been exposed (fig. 12). Completecrystals are barrel shaped, often with tapering ends. Thesecan easily be cleaved perpendicular to their long axis toexpose the internal hexagonal pattern. For best results, holda crystal between the thumb and index finger of both handsand snap it like breaking a pencil. The hornfels can be veryfriable, as are the sakura ishi, which makes it easy to findnice crystal sections but difficult to collect matrix specimens

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Figure 16. Iridescent andradite, 2.5 cm across, Kousemine, Nara Prefecture.

(fig. 13). Matrix specimens can be partly stabilized by glueimpregnation. Many local collectors paint a solution ofwarm water and wood glue on the specimens; it quickly pen-etrates the porous hornfels. The only collecting tools reallyneeded for this locality are one's hands and some zip-lockbags for the crystals. A small hammer and chisel could beused, but we found more crystals that had weathered fromthe rock then we could collect.

After a few hours of collecting, we all had ample crystalsof sakura ishi, so we decided to visit the tailings piles of theOtani tungsten mine, along the fianks of Gyoujayama, justacross the valley from Yunohana onsen (hot spring). Themain ore mineral at the Otani mine is scheelite, but goodcrystals are relatively rare. Alfredo Petrov, however, found anice 4-mm crystal in a small vug in quartz. Other mineralsto be found on the dumps are bertrandite, beryl (interestingacicular to whiskerlike microcrystals), pyrite, quartz, sphal-erite, stannite, and tungstite. One of the most sought afterminerals on Gyoujayama, however, is cassiterite. Although itwas never found in the Otani mine, crystals have been recov-ered from alluvium along the hillsides where many of themine tailings have been dumped. Single crystals in excess of4 cm have been uncovered, and with diligent digging 1-1.5-cm crystals may be found. A local collector we met on thedumps, Mr. Haruhiko Oe, gave me the specimen in figure 14,a very generous gift given the time I suspect it took to find.Our own efforts yielded only small fragments of cassiterite.

Mr. Takashi Fujiwara of the Masutomi Geology Museumguided Osamu Tamada, Naoyuki Kawame, my wife Monica,and me on our final collecting trip during golden week tothe Kouse mine, Nara Prefecture. This is where the irides-cent garnets, which I reported on in the last News fromJapan article (Rakovan 2005b) are found. The location is ina remote, mountainous part of Nara Prefecture and is notaccessible by mass transit. However, the deposit is only ashort hike from a paved road. The andradite crystals are partof a large skarn deposit that was once mined for iron ore. Theskarn is exposed along a steep mountainside that is gulliedalong its base by several small, intermittent streams that flowinto a beautiful, boulder-filled river. The mountainsides areheavily vegetated, but there are numerous outcrops that vary

in mineralogy. In one area the rock was composed entirely oflarge, radiating aggregates of hedenbergite crystals to 10 cmin length. Other areas showed mixtures of fine-grained gar-net, diopside, and other Ca-silicate minerals. The portion ofthe skarn where the rainbow garnets are found is essentially acoarse-grained aggregate of pure andradite. When we visitedduring the second week of May, collectors had excavated asizeable hole in the rock. It measured roughly 15x8x4 feet.A thick carpet of loose andradite crystals covered the slope toabout 40 feet below the hole, and they were almost all irides-cent! Nearly all of the crystals left on the ground surface weresubhedral to anhedral; even so, they still showed very niceiridescence, especially where they had been in contact withother crystals (fig. 15). One of our collecting group, Naoyuki,found a group of well-formed crystals (fig. 16), the only oneencountered that day. From the exposure I saw, it is likely thatthese garnets will be available for some time to come.

Coming NextIt is 20 June as I fmish this article, and we will soon be

returning to the United States. Our stay in Japan has passedfar too quickly, but I feel very fortunate to have had thistime here. I am also very lucky to have encountered so manyopen and generous people who have enthusiastically shownme their country and their minerals. The next two issuesof Rocks & Minerals will be dedicated to the minerals ofCanada, so my last installment of this series will appear inthe May/June 2006 issue. In it I will report on the mineralcollecfions of Tokyo University (home of the Wakabayashicollection) and the National Museum of Science (home ofthe Sakurai collection), the zaibatsu, and mineral deposits,as well as other mineral news from Japan.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Prof. Seiichiro Uehara of Kyushu Univer-sity for his kindness and for many of the photographs used in thisarticle. I would also like to thank Mr. Akiyoshi Okamoto and Mr.Takashi Fujiwara for their generous hospitality and for guidingus on our field trips during golden week. I am grateful to AlfredoPetrov and Dr. Hidemichi Hori for their helpful reviews and com-ments, and to Prof. Osamu Tamada, Prof. Kazuhiko Ito, KeikoKuzawa, Yukari Ito, Naoyuki Kawame, and Hideki Kanazawa fortheir enthusiastic and immense help as guides and interpreters.

REFERENCES

Masutomi, K. 1995. Illustrated guidebook to the geology of Kyoto.Kyoto, Japan: Kyoto Shinbun Corporation.

Rakovan, J. 2004a. A word to the wise; Energy dispersive spectrom-etry (EDS). Rocks & Minerals 79:194-96.

. 2004b. A word to the wise: X-ray diffraction (XRD). Rocks79:351-53.

-. 2005a. News from Japan—Part 1: Kyoto mineral shops, theMasutomi Geology Museum, and cherry blossom stones,d-Mmera/s 80:270-73.

-. 2005b. News from Japan—Part 2: The Wada mineral col-lection, Ikuno mine, rainbow garnet, and mineral dealers inJapan. Rocks & Minerals 80:350-55.

Shirozu, H., H. Momoi, M. Ozaki, T. Watanabe, S. Higashi, N. Kat-sumoto, and T. Harada. 1971. Ko collection of minerals. ScienceReports, Department of Geology, Kyushu University 11:147-208. •

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