All of the razors I am discussing gave fine shaves off of the 8K. They lost keeness on the Nakayama. I checked this carefully. I am fully aware the the greatest work in honing is in setting the bevel, adn I am being extremely careful about checking at every step of the way.
While I fully undersdtand the need to be careful of my honing, and never assume I have mastered any step, I would not post about problems with the nakayama if I was not sure that was where the problem lay. It may be in my technique with the stone, or it may be a quirk in the stone, but I am sure that these razors had fine bevels and were shaving well before they got to the final polish.
I have done so. Like I said, those pics were of the hone BEFORE I lapped it...in fact, that is the condition of the stone when I first got it.
The first thing I did was lap it up to 2K, and I did so again recently just to make sure. Again, I started at 400 grit and worked my way up to 2K w&d sandpaper on a polished slab of granite. I haven't noticed any changes in the resulting edges, though.
This I have not tried, though Kawaguchi did gouge a pattern into it with an awl the last time I took it to him for practice.
Thanks for some more concrete advice. I find it helpful to examine things closely, and this is a good way to focus my attention more carefully.