Thread: Maruka Hatanaka Nakayama

Originally Posted by AljuwaiedAK

Hello everyone


This is kinda of showing off


I got this stone not long ago from a Japanese barbershop located in Sakai, the man sold it to me as Maruka Hatanaka Nakayama.....


It is magnificent finisher, absolutely top shelf stuff, it's hard and will not autoslurry, but not the hardest.

However the stone has a unique pattern like a gold splash, can anyone tell me what is Japanese name for that if there is any ?

Alijuwaied

I have several examples of that type of stone, and it is a form of Yaki, a brownish alternate mineral component that can sometimes look brightly golden but usually a dull brown and contrasts with the main stone body tone which is often gray or bluish (tinged blue). With my examples the stone feels slightly open grained, not necessarly rough or coarse but just open. I have seen yaki from several mines and Nakayama is one of them along with Okudo and Shobudani. These stones tend to be hard and I belive that they are from the Aisa layer because I have one that also has a karasu pattern on the ushiro backside.

About your stone being from the Nakayama mine. Hard to say and like the post from Stefan above, performance is everything on these forums. Without a patch of kawa skin on the back as an indicator I don't think you will ever find out for sure. Hatanaka stamped their stones on the top side so their stamps were worn off in first use, Kato-san usually stamped on the ends in black ink.

About 6 months ago the Japanese version of "The Antiques Roadshow", a TV show that does apprasials of antiques, guns, paintings and furniture, a guy brought in a few stones that came from his father to ask for appraisal. I guess that a lot of barbers in Japan saw that program because for the last few months a lot of barbers think that they own small fortunes in their used stones. Most barbers don't care from which mine their hones came from, but now some are curious.

I hope this helps in some way.

Alex

Well, just to add to the conversation, and I'm not supporting the claims of this vendor, ....however, i do covet this stone,

Maybe there is some valid related point, and maybe not. I dont know!!

Nakayama Maruka Hatahoshi Natural Whetstone 1611.2g (3Lb. 8.9oz. )

"Size: 209mmX75mmX37mm It is a very old Nakayama Maruka Hatahoshi whetstone. The original paper box is still with it. It has still Hatahoshi stamp on the top of the sharpening surface. It does not have Maruka stamp on the side, but Hatanaka whetstone is the company sells Hatahoshi and Maruka, so they are from the same company and the same mine."

Nakayama Maruka Hatahoshi Natural Whetstone 1611.2g (3Lb. 8.9oz. )

Originally Posted by alx

Alijuwaied

I have several examples of that type of stone, and it is a form of Yaki, a brownish alternate mineral component that can sometimes look brightly golden but usually a dull brown and contrasts with the main stone body tone which is often gray or bluish (tinged blue). With my examples the stone feels slightly open grained, not necessarly rough or coarse but just open. I have seen yaki from several mines and Nakayama is one of them along with Okudo and Shobudani. These stones tend to be hard and I belive that they are from the Aisa layer because I have one that also has a karasu pattern on the ushiro backside.

About your stone being from the Nakayama mine. Hard to say and like the post from Stefan above, performance is everything on these forums. Without a patch of kawa skin on the back as an indicator I don't think you will ever find out for sure. Hatanaka stamped their stones on the top side so their stamps were worn off in first use, Kato-san usually stamped on the ends in black ink.

About 6 months ago the Japanese version of "The Antiques Roadshow", a TV show that does apprasials of antiques, guns, paintings and furniture, a guy brought in a few stones that came from his father to ask for appraisal. I guess that a lot of barbers in Japan saw that program because for the last few months a lot of barbers think that they own small fortunes in their used stones. Most barbers don't care from which mine their hones came from, but now some are curious.

I hope this helps in some way.

Alex

Thanks Alex, what you have shared was really helpful, I believe those golden spots are very similar to the two stones on the right.

As for the stamps, if the stone is a Maruka Hatanaka or at least Nakayama I don't really care as I paid 1/10 of the price of a stamped one, and the stone is great which is what I am looking for really.

And that thing with the Japanese barbers that you mentioned, I think it is true as I almost exclusively buy my Jnats from Japanese barber because if it's good for them it is definitely good enough for me, but lately I noticed that the prices are rising I think that they got an idea about the value of their stones from that program.

Thanks again Alex for your help.