Japanese Natural Whetstone Ohira Renge Suita 367g Kyoto

This is a rare Honzan Aito Ōhira Renge Suita natural finishing stone.

Beautiful Renge (Lotus) patterns are evenly distributed across the entire sharpening surface. Stones with such a well-balanced and consistent Renge pattern have become increasingly difficult to obtain in recent years.

Although the stone has a dense structure, it feels relatively soft during sharpening. During testing, it consistently produced a fine, creamy gray slurry. It also offers excellent cutting performance with exceptionally smooth, well-controlled feedback, making it easy to achieve a beautiful Kasumi finish.

The brown lines visible on the surface are Kesuji (natural hairline patterns), not Suji (toxic lines), and they do not interfere with sharpening.

Specifications

• Dimensions: Approximately 132 × 73 × 15 mm

• Weight: Approximately 605 g

• Estimated Grit: #8000+

• Nagura: Not required, although using a Nagura stone will significantly accelerate slurry formation.

• Hardness: 4−

• Recommended for: Kitchen knives, woodworking tools, and other fine edge tools.

Kanji

• 大平山合砥 — Ōhira Yama Awasedo (Natural Finishing Stone from Mount Ōhira)

• 蓮華 — Renge (Lotus). Pink, red, or purple Renge markings are considered a highly desirable characteristic and are especially prized by collectors.

• 巣板 — Suita.

This stone is an outstanding finishing stone for Japanese hand planes, chisels, saws, straight razors, and high-quality kitchen knives.

Historical Background

Before World War II, the famous Ōhira Mine (大平山), renowned for producing exceptional Renge Suita, was owned by the Ishihara family. The family operated the mine but was not actively involved in retail sales. Instead, the stones were supplied to Kyoto's major wholesalers.

Among the best-known buyers were:

• Hatanaka Toishi (畑中砥石店) — the largest wholesaler of natural sharpening stones.

• Maruka.

• Ozukuya, along with several other Kyoto stone merchants.

Many stones bearing the Hatanaka stamp were in fact mined at Ōhira.

Commercial mining at Ōhira largely ceased during the 1970s and 1980s due to the depletion of accessible deposits, increasingly difficult extraction conditions, and declining economic viability.

Since then, the owners have only occasionally permitted limited recovery operations, including clearing old tunnels, collecting collapsed blocks, or extracting very small quantities of stone. From time to time, small lots from old stock are also released onto the market.

For this reason, genuine Ōhira stones are now quite rare and command premium prices.

Some of Japan's most celebrated natural finishing stones originated from the Ōhira Mine, including Awasedo, Uchigumori, Shiro Suita, Renge Suita, Karasu Suita, and Nashiji Suita.

The distinctive red Renge pattern has become the unmistakable hallmark of the Ōhira Mine, making these stones especially sought after by sharpeners and collectors worldwide.