Originally Posted by
alx
Hi Maxim
I will have to gently disagree about your above blanket statement. There were great stones brought to light from all of the 4-5 main mines including Shobu & Ozuku. Each mine in the Shobudani area shared the same general geology and at different times ran into the same basic strata. Naurtaki was also one of those mines that had wonderful stones but unfortuneatly mined them all out and a closed before any of use were born by decades. The really best stones from any of the Kyo Yamashita area were dug out and used for swords between 1380 to somewhere in the Edo period, probably about 1750-1825. These were from the purest strata found at the higher elevations of the mountain from each of the different mines. So I contend that even the Nakayama stones most of us are exposed to are, well, I'll leave that up to you. alx