Cherry Blossom Stone

Mineral Matters #434

Staying with Japan, I present to you the Cherry Blossom Stone.

Cherry blossoms in Japan are known as Sakura, represented by the Kanji 桜. This is made up of two parts: 木 (ki), which means “tree”, and 亚 (yū or ya), which originally denoted a plant known for its fragrant leaves and later evolved to represent the concept of flowers.

The Cherry Blossom Stone (sakura-ishi or 桜石), is not to be confused with sakuraiite, a sulphide with the formula (Cu,Zn,Fe)₃(In,Sn)S₄. The sakura-ishi is also known as cerasite, it is a muscovite pseudomorph after a cordierite-indialite intergrowth.

Below: Muscovite after cordierite-indialite intergrowth, Daimonjiyama, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Kinki Region, Honshu Island, Japan. 6mm wide.

Edit: From Yunohana, Kameoka City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, accoding to Alfredo Petrov, not from Daimonjiyama. Alfredo says “The Daimonji cerasites are not quite as symmetrical as the Yunohana ones. And Daimonji cerasites are always firmly embedded in a hard hornfels matrix; they don't drop out loose like the Yunohana ones”. My catalogue now appropriately updated 😁

It is almost Spring here and we have our own “Sakura” blooming! 😁