Tortoise shell

Courtesan wigs for Hawaii Kabuki, loaded with fake (plastic) tortoiseshell hair ornaments

• Japanese: 鼈甲 (bekkou)

Tortoise shell has been used throughout East Asia for centuries, for a variety of purposes. In ancient China, tortoise shells were used for divination purposes, and in Japan, they were used for many centuries to make hairpins and other decorative accessories. Though typically called "tortoise shell," it usually comes from sea turtles, and not tortoises.

One of the chiefly used species is the hawksbill sea turtle, or taimai (玳瑁). It was mainly used for its shell, sections of which (scutes in English) were known as tsume (爪, lit. "claws") in Japanese; those from the sides of the turtle, near the flippers, are known as basa tsume, and those from the back, hon-tsume ("main claws").

Turtle shell was among the goods brought to Kingdom of Ryûkyû for sale by Chinese investiture envoys in the early modern period.