I don't think it's a counterfeit Mikawa. The kinife shop has a Hones 'Expert' who I have had many discusions with and seems to know what he is talking about. So I am not totally suspect of it as of yet.

There is a little bit of absorption when honing. As for the hardness of the hone, it took about 15 minutes on my #600 diamond plate and appears to be quite hard.

From my own online research (I did do some prior to buying it) this Iyo look is also found in many Mikawa nagura, both the small rubbing stones and the larger hone sized stones, like mine.

In fact to most expensive 'Koma' nagura that I have seen is heavily marked similar to this one. I am not claiming this a Koma nagura though.

They are most often rated in the 'naka-to' range and are probably not shiage-to range. I look forward to testing it out in a number of ways.



Jim, if you want to borrow it to try out at some time in the future, send me a PM.