Kei (English spelling) gui

Japanese: 圭 - けい（英語表記）gui

A type of jade from ancient China that symbolized authority. It has a rectangular shape with a pointed top, and those that are half gui are called zhang. The gui shape is said to have developed from prehistoric perforated stone axes, but this is not certain. Jade artifacts belonging to the gui and zhang types have been discovered in the Zhengzhou and Anyang periods of the Shang dynasty, but they are axe- or halberd-shaped. In the Western Zhou period, rectangular or halberd-shaped objects were found, and the so-called gui and zhang shapes did not appear until the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and have been excavated from Eastern Zhou tombs such as Shangcunling, Huixian, and Shaogou in Luoyang.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

中国古代の玉器の一種で，権威を象徴した。上方がとがった短冊形を呈し，半圭のものを璋と呼んでいる。圭の形は先史時代の有孔石斧から発達したといわれるが，確かではない。殷代鄭州期および安陽期には，圭，璋に属する玉器が発見されているが，斧形あるいは戈形のものである。西周になると長方形あるいは戈形のものがみられ，いわゆる圭，璋の形が出現するのは春秋・戦国期に入ってからで，上村嶺，輝県，洛陽焼溝などの東周墓から出土している。

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