Red Coral and Pink Coral, Precious Coral Art. Photo: Tsushima Shuhei

The sea around Kochi produces not only the brilliant crimson red corals, but also elegant peach colored “momoirosango” corals, and pure white “shirosango" corals. This inspired the development of precious coral art in Kochi, and artisan began to carve objects such as figurines and Buddhist statues using coral.
In the process of crafting precious coral art, the natural colors of
these corals are respected, the color and luster, size and quality of each
coral is taken into consideration.