[M-ZZ52] Geology and culture

[MZZ52-P05] Variety of old Japanese building marble brand names and its transition through time

*Mutsuko Inui¹ (1.School of Science and Engineering, Kokushikan University)

Keywords:building stone, marble, Japan

Building stone marbles, limestones, and serpentinites, were not only imported but were also quarried and manufactured in Japan through the late modern period from late 19th century to early 20th century. The contribution of the Japanese building stones in the modern architectures is underestimated just because they are not well known. It is important to investigate the provenance of the yet unknown building marbles. Yabashi Marble Co., Ltd. have been one of the largest manufacturers of building stones in Japan and have commited to many large construction projects through the late modern period. A list of the Japanese marble brands (including limestone and serpentinite) assembled by Yabashi Marble covers many of the Japanese marbles that are still observable in the historic modern architectures in Japan, and will sure be great help for the identification of the still unknown marbles. In this paper, the marble brand list by the Yabashi Marble is introduced and are shown with sample images. The preciseness and the completeness of the list in comparison with other references are discussed. The list is espetially useful since it refers to the time period when each brand was industrially active. Transition of the marble brands through time are derived from the list. The information is expected to be used in provenance study of building stones.