Thread: Nakayama Maruka

Are these Amrukas all that superior to other nakayamas without a stamp?

Also any feedback on these marukas please

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

Nakayama Maruka Asagi Natural Whetstone 1432g (3Lb. 2.5oz. )

You cannot tell from pictures how a stone will perform in your hands but Hatanaka san is known for top shelf stones, not just Maruka stamped ones.
That does not make unstamped stones inferior.

sstomcat,

FYI

+1 on 'Aframes Tokyo' : their service is outstanding. I recently bought some tomo-nagura from them (Shoubudani Asagi, Wakasa Asagi, Okudo Suita & Ozuku Asagi) and they arrived in the UK in four (4) days, and the stones were excellent (and large !!).

Have fun

Best regards

Russ

No, maruka stamps don't make the stones superior. They are not the Eschers of the Thuringians, they are just stamps on good stones, that drive quite high the price. But you can find a similar stone without a stamp that performs just as good.
And, I agree, Aframes Tokyo has great stones and service. For shipping it took me 60something days (Greece), that was the only odd thing.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

No, maruka stamps don't make the stones superior. They are not the Eschers of the Thuringians, they are just stamps on good stones, that drive quite high the price. But you can find a similar stone without a stamp that performs just as good.

Interestingly, to me what you are describing above for Nakayama vs "Nakayama with Maruka stamp" exactly matches the "Thuringian with Escher label" vs "unlabeled Thuringian" relationship:

Neither the stamp nor the label make the stone superior to their unstamped or unlabelled fellow hones. What it does is to give the buyer the reassurance to buy a confirmed and selected specimen (unless it's faked ).

I have both vintage Thuringians and Eschers and the Eschers are in no way superior. Likewise, my Nakayama Maruka is not better than my "normal" Nakayama.

Just my two Euro cents ...

Cheers
Jörg

Gentlemen, Thank you for the very thoughtful feedback.
Jorg nailed it that a stamp gives the assurance about quality and authenticity not considering the fake stamps.

I'm new but not new to shaving and specially honing. Used to use mainly synthetic stones (all kinds) but want to explore the world of real stones for fun.
Aframes has host of stones with interesting names and titles most of which sound Greek and Hebrew to me. I will appreciate if you guys can point me to a selection to get a v good quality Nakayama (not really particular about stamp). I plan to use and keep it .Thanks a ton.
Cheers.

Originally Posted by sstomcat

Gentlemen, Thank you for the very thoughtful feedback.
Jorg nailed it that a stamp gives the assurance about quality and authenticity not considering the fake stamps.

I'm new but not new to shaving and specially honing. Used to use mainly synthetic stones (all kinds) but want to explore the world of real stones for fun.
Aframes has host of stones with interesting names and titles most of which sound Greek and Hebrew to me. I will appreciate if you guys can point me to a selection to get a v good quality Nakayama (not really particular about stamp). I plan to use and keep it .Thanks a ton.
Cheers.

I'm pretty sure, Greeks did not invent, discover or named the Jnats in the Kyoto area. In nothing else, we've had an Empire to run at that time
You don't have to buy a Nakayama. Ozuku, Shobu (shobudani) and Nakayama are the best for razors, and for strata, asagi would be pretty much the best choice. I'm not sure why the Nakayama is the most famous name of mine, but shobu and ozuku are as good, and for the value of what you are buying, they might even be a better choice. So, any of the above names with the asagi behind would be sufficient. For this site, if any of these stones are hard and fine above 9 from his grading system, you'll get an amazing stone. The rest of the names like ohira and naturaki are not as good finishers. They don't fall too far behind, but chose one of the above.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

I'm pretty sure, Greeks did not invent, discover or named the Jnats in the Kyoto area. In nothing else, we've had an Empire to run at that time
You don't have to buy a Nakayama. Ozuku, Shobu (shobudani) and Nakayama are the best for razors, and for strata, asagi would be pretty much the best choice. I'm not sure why the Nakayama is the most famous name of mine, but shobu and ozuku are as good, and for the value of what you are buying, they might even be a better choice. So, any of the above names with the asagi behind would be sufficient. For this site, if any of these stones are hard and fine above 9 from his grading system, you'll get an amazing stone. The rest of the names like ohira and naturaki are not as good finishers. They don't fall too far behind, but chose one of the above.

Vasilis- well said and I totally understand.As I said I'm not an expert or knowledgeable at this stage. I believe the Nakayama mine is Ubiquitous because Kato San and then Hatanaka family maintained tight quality stones, and did not proliferate the market with cheap low quality. Good marketing acumen I would guess.

So, please guide me to a stone that is currently available a link would be excellent. That is the main reason I ask for your judgement. No obligations as always.
Thanks

The stamps, if genuine (and from Takeshi they probably are) mean the stone is a superior GRADE in terms of defects like clipped corners, cracks, lines, and so on. The Maruka stamp DOES NOT mean the stone is suitable for a specific purpose. It may be a superb knife hone and not fine enough to be a good razor hone, or it may be very fine and hard for razors, and too fine and slow for knives.

The best thing to do is have a conversation with the seller about what you want, and go with his advice, stamp or no stamp. I've actually asked him about one of these stones, and he said for razors it was nothing special compared to what I have from him.

Cheers, Steve

I would be mad to pay more than $200 US for a stone.. be it german, belgian, or japanese, but thats just me. I owned 6 jnats, currently 3, most of which cost less than $90 and do an excellent job. Some level 5, some level 5+, some level 3 and 3+ (this is all subjective from my limited experience).

Here, you would be paying for the looks and the weight. The surface does seem flawless.. but that doesn't mean that an Ozuku, or Shobu Asagi for ~$250-$350 would be a worse choice. Perhaps for your first jnat, it would be worth looking at JNS Shoubudani 100. Costs about less than $100 with a slurry stone. Additionally, JNS has some great Nakayamas which cost half of that price.