Japanese Apricot Wood

Japanese apricot wood (ume) is a plant material, not a mineral: it is the wood of Prunus mume, a tree of the rose family (Rosaceae). In the Japanese Buddhist-rosary (juzu) trade, beads of this wood are called shōume (正梅), which rosary makers explain as 'genuine ume wood'. Despite the English name, Kew's Plants of the World Online gives the species' native range as south-central China to northern Indochina, with Japan among the places it was introduced.

Products made with this material

No products for this material yet.

Full material guide
Material facts

What the material is, where it comes from or how it is made, identification and care, from the cited sources.

Properties

Nature Plant material (wood)
Botanical name Prunus mume (Siebold) Siebold & Zucc. (syn. Armeniaca mume Siebold)
Plant family Rosaceae (rose family)
Color Brown tones (as described by rosary sellers)
Finish Rosary beads may be given a protective gloss finish

Origins & sources

Kew's Plants of the World Online lists Prunus mume as native to south-central China, Laos and Vietnam, and introduced into other parts of China, Hainan, Inner Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang. One Japanese rosary seller states that its shōume beads are made from wood from Vietnam, China and other countries.

Identification

Japanese rosary makers describe shōume as a hard, strong wood known for its attractive gloss and for resisting water, whose colour deepens and becomes more mellow with long use.

Care

Not collected yet

History & culture

History

Shōume is a common material for Japanese Buddhist rosaries of several schools, and rosary sellers note that it is also used for Buddhist altars and other ritual implements.

Cultural meanings

The Osaka rosary maker Yamada Nenjudo writes that the ume tree, because it blooms after enduring the winter cold, is regarded as a symbol of passing beyond this world of delusion to the peaceful world Buddhism aims for, and has been revered for this.

Traditional beliefs

Rosary sellers say that because shōume is considered resistant to water, it is well known as the rosary used during suigyō (water austerities), and one Nichiren-school seller states that a shōume rosary is the first rosary given to those becoming Nichiren priests.

Sources

Collected Oct 23, 2026