This Amacusa camellia oil is made using 100% camellia oil collected in Oe Amakusa-machi in Kumamoto Prefecture, a town with a long history of cultivating camellia shrubs endemic to Japan. It is made for cosmetic use and has no additives. Although there are many camellia oil products on the market, few of them can state “made with camellia seed oil”, which is proof that products using camellia seed oil are extracted from camellia shrubs. The reason is that only a small amount of oil can be extracted from domestic camellia. Furthermore, camellia oil from Amakusa does not use any agrochemicals — any insects found are manually removed one by one. Despite being a non-drying oil, camellia oil contains 85% oleic acid — an ingredient that offers a smooth blending texture, is moisture rich, and is resistant to oxidizing.
The camellia oil has always been an essential resource for people living in the Oe region in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture. It was used to light lanterns, and was also a hair oil that brought out the shine in women’s hair. Also, legend has it that camellia shrubs were considered a holly tree equivalent from Edo to Meiji periods for the hidden Christians of the time. Ring-a-bell, an English idiom that means to recall something previously experienced, was chosen as a brand name in the hope that more people would discover the charm of camellia oil.