Yasakani no Magatama
The curved jade bead (magatama) dangled from the branch of the sacred sakaki tree beside the mirror that drew Amaterasu from her cave, and counted among the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan it symbolizes benevolent fortune and the sovereign's mandate to rule. The comma-shaped bead is far older than the myth, appearing in Jomon ornament and by the hundreds in Kofun-period tomb jewellery, where the huge jasper magatama found in the great burial mounds shows how much the form was treasured. The name Yasakani is explained in the chronicles as 'the jewel of Yasaka', a place-name tied to the shrine o