I did not say that Suitas are stamped awasedo, just that from the pic of your stone it looks like suita. It could be nashiji as well but the patterning is more consistent with suita. What does the side look like?
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It looks like suita to me, too. Maybe it is a nearby strata, but it looks like suita.
When it comes to Jnats, I think we all know what something looks like may not be what it actually is.
Side and end faces of the stone are covered with varnish.
Side face:
Attachment 167868
End face:
Attachment 167869
Attachment 167870
magnified fragment of work surface:
Attachment 167871
I can take more detailed images of the surface with microscope...
I bought an unknown mine stone from Takeshi that was possible nakayama iromono, it had su and goma. Im not looking for what I would call it but suita makes sense as it has "su".
It seems to me that small holes ( AKA Su / 巣 ) are typical for some types of toishi including iromono and number of other Awasedo from Tomae strata.
Not just for SUITA only.
Here it is the example of iromono with su: https://www.flickr.com/photos/109151...7637827771915/
More info on that iromono:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...-identify.html
So presence of "Su" is not a distinctive trait of SUITA toishi.
And the absence of "Su" does not mean that the stone is definetely not SUITA because there are so called Sunashi Suita ( 巣無し巣板 ) stones that are SUITA, but have no Su at all.
Looks like su to me. I'd be guessing on that stone if I didn't think it was a suita stone, but a fine suita would work fine as a finisher so I don't know why guess anything else? Usually when su-like stuff shows up on asagi stones (that I've seen), less than great things happen.
I can imagine maybe the stone might be from another strata, because it doesn't look like the classic color suita like shinden (more creamy) or okudo (creamy white), but if it was from another strata, it would be nice if the miner would've identified it or we won't figure it out by looking at it and guessing.
Attachment 167976I also have an Iromono and noticed one day under magnification that it had Su. It's a fantastic stone. Dead easy to get excellent edges off of it, but not quite as keen as what I get with Nakayami Asagi I own. Here's a pic of it along with some Nagura and an old arkie.