Japanese Natural Whetstone Ohira Renge Suita 920g Kyoto

This is a rare Honzan Aito  Ōhira Renge Suita whetstone.

Beautiful renge (lotus) patterns are evenly distributed across the entire sharpening surface, and stones with such well-balanced renge have become increasingly difficult to obtain in recent years.

While it has a sense of density, the stone remains relatively soft in feel. During test sharpening, it consistently produced a fine, creamy gray slurry. It also offers excellent cutting performance, with a smooth and highly controllable feel, allowing you to achieve a high-quality kasumi finish efficiently.

The brown lines visible on the surface are “kesuji” (natural hairline patterns), not suji (toxic lines).

 Please note that these are not for beginner sharpeners since they're harder to use. These are natural stones meaning that every single one of them are different so my measured sizes are not accurate. This is a lifetime investment for people who live sharpening their knives and tools, do not hesitate to ask me your questions.”

Dimension  : 132mm x 75mm x 40mm ( Approx.) 

 Weight: 920g

- Nagura is not needed but using one will definitely speed up the process

- Excellent finishing stone for knives, and tools

- Hardness: 4

explanation from the Japanese seller - 天然砥石　正本山合砥　大平 蓮華巣板　1318＇　銀助砥石　／　鉋鑿鋸剃刀包丁京都天然砥石組合

Translation:

天然砥石 - natural whetstone.

正本山合砥 - genuine Kyoto finishing stone (Shohonzan Awasedo). This means that the stone is a Kyoto natural finishing stone.

大平 - Ohira Mine

蓮華巣板 (Renge Suita) - Suita layer with a Renge ("lotus") pattern. Pink, red or purple renge spots are considered a very beautiful feature and are highly valued by collectors, although they do not in themselves make the stone better for working.

加力砥石 - finishing stone.

鉋・鑿・鋸・剃刀・包丁 - for planes, chisels, saws, razors and kitchen knives.

京都天然砥石煄合 - stamp of the Kyoto Natural Grindstone Association.

The Ōhira mine (大平山), where the famous Renge Suita were mined, belonged to the Ishihara family (石原, Ishihara) before World War II. It was this family that owned the mining site and organized the mining. They were not engaged in active retail trade - the mined stone was sold to large wholesalers in Kyoto. The most famous buyers were:

Hatanaka Toishi (畑中砥石店) - the largest wholesaler; Maruka; Ozukuya and other Kyoto merchants. Many stones with Hatanaka seals were actually mined in Ōhira.

In the 1970s and 1980s, industrial mining practically ceased. The main reason was the depletion of available seams, the difficulty of mining and economic unprofitability.

After that, the owners of the site periodically allowed: clearing old workings; collection of collapsed blocks; limited mining of small batches; sometimes they throw out batches from old stocks onto the market.

Therefore, modern Ōhira are rare and usually expensive. It was from Ōhira that many of the most famous stones came: Awasedo (a whetstone for fine finishing), Uchigumori - the best for polishing and sharpening swords, Suita - Shiro Suita; Renge Suita; Karasu Suita; Nashiji Suita.

It was the red "Renge" that became a kind of Ōhira calling card.