Pounamu, greenstone
Within Rongomaraeroa at Te Papa museum in Wellington NZ you can follow 9M other visitors and with your hands rub water and silica sand over the surface of large boulder of pounamu, greenstone, NZ nephrite jade.
The Spirit of Stone: The Story of New Zealand’s Jade (Pounamu)
Aotearoa New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud, is not just home to breathtaking mountains, ancient forests, and wild coastlines—it also cradles a deeply spiritual stone beneath its South Island rivers and valleys. Known to Māori as pounamu, and more broadly as jade or greenstone, this stone holds a revered place in New Zealand’s cultural and natural heritage.
Pounamu is a type of nephrite jade, formed deep beneath the earth under immense pressure and heat, then uplifted over millions of years by the shifting tectonic plates that form the Southern Alps. This rugged mountain range, stretching like a spine down the South Island (Te Waipounamu), is the main source of New Zealand jade. Over time, rivers and glacial movements have carried fragments of the stone downstream, smoothing them into river-worn treasures.
To the Māori, pounamu is more than a beautiful material—it is a taonga, a treasure imbued with mana (prestige, authority, spiritual power). Traditionally used for tools, weapons, and adornments, pounamu pieces were carefully crafted and passed down through generations. The stone’s rarity and strength made it invaluable, and many pounamu artefacts have outlasted centuries, their surfaces still bearing the warmth of hands long gone.
Māori classify pounamu into several types, each with its own name and meaning. Inanga, a pearly white-green stone, is named after the native whitebait fish. Kawakawa, the most common and a deep forest green, resembles the color of the kawakawa or pepper tree. Kakotea is a dark green with black spots and Totoweka is streaked with white or spots of red. Kōkōtangiwai, while a serpentine, rather than nephrite jade is a translucent bowenite often found in Fiordland, with a shimmering, watery look that evokes the weeping eye (tangiwai).
These names are not just descriptive—they reflect the deep relationship between people, nature, and the stone itself. Pounamu connects the physical and spiritual worlds, and gifting a piece is an expression of respect, love, or remembrance. Common mythology is that one should not purchase jade for themselves. This is just a myth. While it is something special to be gifted a piece of jade by someone, you can buy jade for yourself without any risk to your physical or mental state.
The environment in which pounamu is found is equally awe-inspiring. In Te Wai Pounamu’s remote west coast, dense rainforest meets steep cliffs and rushing rivers. Rain falls often, sometimes for weeks, nourishing native beech, rimu, and tree ferns, while mists cling to ancient valleys. Here, under stones and in riverbeds, lies the green heart of the land. The act of finding pounamu is as much a spiritual journey as a physical one—one must read the land, understand its rhythms, and approach with reverence.
Today, Māori tribes (iwi) such as Ngāi Tahu are the legal guardians of pounamu, managing its collection and protecting its cultural integrity. Authentic New Zealand jade is sourced sustainably and with permission, ensuring the stone’s story continues with respect for both nature and tradition.
At Heart of Stone, we honor this legacy. Each piece of jade we work with carries more than beauty—it carries story, spirit, and place. We purchase our raw jade stone only from those authorised to collect the stone from the river. When you wear a piece of jade or pounamu, you carry a part of Aotearoa with you: enduring, grounded, and alive with ancient energy.
Image courtesy of Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand