Kuji city is located in northern Iwate on the ria coast of Sanriku, one of the world’s best fishing ports. Amber produced in Kuji is discovered in a stratum from the age of dinosaurs of the Late Cretaceous Period (80 to 90 million years ago). Kuji is known as a world class amber producer as well as the biggest amber production center in Japan. Amber, valued as a precious stone from the old days, is still a signature product of Kuji city.
"An insect trapped in amber"
Photo cooperated with: Kuji Amber Museum
"Inside of Konjiki-do Gold (gold leaf)"
Photo cooperated with: Chusonji Temple
In the end of the13th century, Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant, heard a rumor that in a Far East island country there was a temple made of gold in which everything was gilded, from images of Buddha and rooms to accessories. Though he never got to Japan, stories told by Marco Polo were compiled in "The Travels of Marco Polo."The book heralded the Age of Geological Discovery, when rivaling powers in Europe traveled to the East aiming for a country of gold.
Konjiki-do at Chusonji Temple in Hiraizumi town is said to be the very source of this legend of gold, and it still remains after 900 years. Chusonji Temple was built in 850, and the Fujiwara, a powerful Samurai family who ruled Tohoku in the 12th century, built Konjiki-do on the temple premises. The whole building is gilded with delicate workmanship, absolutely an object of craft work.