Zhejiang — Fish Pharyngeal Bone, Night Cry Stone

This is not a stone.

The pharyngeal bone — called yujingshi in Chinese, literally "fish-startling stone" — is the grinding plate found in the throat of the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), one of the largest freshwater fish in China. The bone is used to crush freshwater snails, which the fish eats whole. The sound it makes while feeding — a sharp, startling crack — gives the bone its name. A piece this size comes only from a fish weighing over 50 jin (25 kilograms). Most grass carp never reach that weight.

In Chinese folk medicine and tradition, the pharyngeal bone of a large grass carp has been used for centuries as a remedy for ye ti — night crying in infants. The bone is placed near the sleeping child, or worn as a pendant. The mechanism is not documented. The practice is.

This piece is large — the size that only comes from a fish that lived long enough to grow into something exceptional. The surface is dense and slightly ridged, somewhere between bone and stone in texture. It is heavier than it looks. Parents who know what it is will recognise it immediately. Everyone else will ask.

Origin: Zhejiang / Jiangsu, China · Yangtze River Basin
Material: Grass carp pharyngeal bone, natural
Type: Collectible / Talisman

One piece only. What you see is what ships.