To provide a phosphor being chemically-thermally stable and having high luminous intensity if combined with LED of not exceeding 470 nm. A phosphor of the present invention includes: inorganic compound including: a crystal represented by Li.sub.1Ba.sub.2Al.sub.1Si.sub.7N.sub.12; a crystal represented by (Li, A).sub.3(D, E).sub.8X.sub.12; and an inorganic crystal having the same crystal structure as the crystal represented by Li.sub.1Ba.sub.2Al.sub.1Si.sub.7N.sub.12; and a solid-solution crystal thereof, which contains Li, A, D, E, and X elements (A represents at least one selected from Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Sc, Y and La; D represents at least one selected from Si, Ge, Sn, Ti, Zr and Hf; E represents at least one selected from B, Al, Ga and In; and X represents at least one selected from O, N and F), wherein M element (M represents at least one selected from Mn, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy and Yb) is solid-solved into each.

A phosphor powder including phosphor particles which are a phosphor represented by a general formula M.sub.x(Si, Al).sub.2(N, O).sub.3y (where M is Li and one or more alkaline earth metal elements and 0.52x0.9 and 0.06y0.36 are satisfied) and in which a part of M is substituted with a Ce element, wherein a Si/Al atomic ratio is equal to or more than 1.5 and equal to or less than 6, an O/N atomic ratio is equal to or more than 0 and equal to or less than 0.1, 5 to 50 mol % of M is Li, and 0.5 to 10 mol % of M is Ce, and a total content of a Cr element, a Fe element, and a Ni element in the phosphor powder is equal to or less than 20.0 ppm.