A beautiful soft pastel stone with touches of green and purple and full of nashi-ji that increases the cutting speed and strength of the stone. The new owner claims it is the one of the finest stones in his collection. This stone originally read on the stone top from the upper right down, JUN SHOSHIN HONYAMA (pure specially chosen original mountain) which is a registered trade name, And at the middle SAIKOKYUHIN (very best quality) Marked faintly on the end of the stone in a rectangle KA SHO HON YAMA (Maruka correct true original mountain). This Nakayama Maruka awasedo toishi stone is NEW/OLD stock from a closed store in Japan. It has not been used other than to test the quality at one edge of the stone as you can see in the photos. You may find other references to the Maruka Nakayama mines on the internet. This mine was known throughout its history to produce the finest awasedo finishing stones in Japan and probably in the world. The Maruka stamp on the end, the registered stamp on the top of this stone and the single toothed fine saw marks help to date the stone to before WW2. |
TheJapanBlade
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Nakayama Karasu #5