Common Bath

What is Black Silica?

The Black silica is a rare and precious stone that can only be gathered in the Kaminokuni region in Hokkaido. One of its numerous properties is its ability to emit infrared radiation semi-permanently in room temperature. In other words, it produces heat naturally and is able to keep something warm.

Black silica consists of diatoms (seaweeds such as wakame and konbu) that got trapped in sediment billions of years ago, fossilized, and have reached the Earth's surface layers due to geotectonic movement. It contains an abundance of minerals and emits negative ions, which is why it is used in negative ionization therapy and is said to be good for the body and effective for curing various diseases.

The place where the stone is gathered has been called the "Land of Gods" or "The Sun Goddess's Place" or with other divinity-related names. As a result, black silica itself also became known as "The Stone of God".

Black silica - "The Stone of God"

In ancient times, the Naumann's elephants living in the area drank water containing traces of black silica to heal their wounds, and Ainu tribesmen would brew lumps of black silica in water and drink it as medicine againt various aches and illnesses.

More recently, as research on the stone’s heat emitting properties has progressed, powdered black silica has been introduced in the fibers of clothes made for skiing and mountain climbing.

In Hokkaido, many farmers use it to grow vegetables, sinking lumps of silica into their irrigation water to combat legionella bacteria and infuse the water with extra minerals that help the plants grow.

Many university laboratories are researching new uses for black silica in various fields such as rice irrigation and culturing of fish and shellfish.

Black silica is good for the following uses or disorders