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- Amber Arriving in China from Japan
According to old Chinese records, in 654CE, the Japanese Emperor Toyoshi-karu no-Oji sent tribute, which included a piece of amber the size of a �peck� (dou), to the Tang Chinese Emperor, Gao Zong. It is uncertain as to the origin of the amber. Japan, to some extend, was the very end of the Silk Road as exotic crafts which were carried along the route would sometimes arrive in Japan. This may have included amber. In 1072, the Japanese sent another tribute, which included amber, to the Song Chinese emperor, Shen Zong.
The Japanese emperor, Shomu (r.724-49), collected many imported treasures and exotic gifts from China and the Silk Road, which are now housed in the Todai-ji temple�s great repository, the Shoso-in. Among the treasures were amber double six pieces, a fish pendant, rosary beads, beads for a ceremonial crown and inlays on the backs of mirrors. As well there was a five stringed lute with amber inlay. All these items are in an excellent state of preservation and show that amber must have been used extensively as inlay as early as the Tang period in China. There is very little mention of art works made of amber other than inlays in Japanese art history. By the 19th century some small amber netsuke toggles and small sculptures, often of monkeys, were being produced.
Amber in the Himalayan Regions
According to the Old History of the Tang dynasty, the King of Nepal adorned himself with pearls, rock-crystal, mother-of-pearl, coral and amber.
In Tibet, strings of amber prayer-beads and necklaces were made for wealthy Tibetans, and Kampa women of Tibet still wear a hair ornament made of a large piece of yellow amber with a coral bead at the centre. Noble women of central Tibet wear headdresses rising in a semi-circle like horns made with cloth and wood or bamboo holding pieces of coral, turquoise, pearls and amber.
Because of the close proximity of Nepal and Tibet to Burma and Central Asian trade routes, the amber mentioned in these texts may have been imported from these locations.
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