Thread: Mystery Nagura

totally disremember where i got this large-ish nagura

any ideas?

so my question is

are the kanji the right way up, and

whats it say

Yes, the kanji are the right way up and say "Iwasaki select".

I am no expert but I've heard conflicting stories about whether or not any of the Iwasaki family actually sold or approved stones themselves. There seems to be a lot of marketing fog in the Jnat market and for some reason Non-Japanese (and non-Chinese) are prone to trusting stamps simply because they have Chinese characters on them (kanji means Chinese character, fwiw).

The Iwasaki-stamped stones at aframestokyo, as a general example, seem to be Nakayama and are not extremely hard. Takeshi told me once that they might be suitable for older kamisori like Henkotsu which are usually a bit softer, but wouldn't be ideal for finishing modern kamisori or harder Western razors.

ah, excellent sir,

its from aframestokyo a few years ago then, has to be .. and it has NO other stamps, nor does Takeshi have any listed atm

its pretty much my favorite nagura, both from using it and just plain i LIKE it, its quite big, too

AND ive just bin using it on a old Henkotsu ha-ha

the elder Iwasaki worked on a system of classifying stones, but he didnt do the actual stamping

or selling, come to that

Originally Posted by Tierdaen

Yes, the kanji are the right way up and say "Iwasaki select".

I am no expert but I've heard conflicting stories about whether or not any of the Iwasaki family actually sold or approved stones themselves. There seems to be a lot of marketing fog in the Jnat market and for some reason Non-Japanese (and non-Chinese) are prone to trusting stamps simply because they have Chinese characters on them (kanji means Chinese character, fwiw).

The Iwasaki-stamped stones at aframestokyo, as a general example, seem to be Nakayama and are not extremely hard. Takeshi told me once that they might be suitable for older kamisori like Henkotsu which are usually a bit softer, but wouldn't be ideal for finishing modern kamisori or harder Western razors.

Could you please write "Iwasaki select" in kanji for us, then it's easier to use it to search and such.

aframestokyo site says: Iwasaki choice

Originally Posted by etorix

aframestokyo site says: Iwasaki choice

Sure, the character 選 can mean "select" or "choose" or any similar variant. I chose "select" simply because the marketing suggests that it was specially approved of by someone with authority or expertise (like "deli select"). Choice could suggest that Iwasaki himself preferred it for his own use (like "chef's choice"), which is not really the meaning implied by the stamp.

Lemur, the kanji are 岩崎選. Hope that's useful.

Oh, for what it's worth, the kanji for 崎 is written with a 竒 radical, but it's the same as the 奇 that is normally seen. After hearing that none of the Iwasakis actually sold or endorsed hones, a tiny part of my brain wonders if there's significance in the radical change. However, kanji eccentricities are not terribly uncommon, and don't necessarily suggest anything dishonest. I just don't remember that particular oddity being shown on anything else associated with Iwasaki (someone correct me on that if you have seen it elsewhere).

Edit: I was wrong about it not being elsewhere. The cover of Hamono no Mikata 刃物の見方 shown on Jim Rion's blog: http://easternsmooth.com/blog/jim-ri...02/292-amazing

the stone above looks like 共名倉 ( Tomo-Nagura ), not like a 純三河白名倉 ( pure Mikawa Shiro Nagura ).

Originally Posted by Tierdaen

Sure, the character 選 can mean "select" or "choose" or any similar variant. I chose "select" simply because the marketing suggests that it was specially approved of by someone with authority or expertise (like "deli select"). Choice could suggest that Iwasaki himself preferred it for his own use (like "chef's choice"), which is not really the meaning implied by the stamp.

Lemur, the kanji are 岩崎選. Hope that's useful.

Oh, for what it's worth, the kanji for 崎 is written with a 竒 radical, but it's the same as the 奇 that is normally seen. After hearing that none of the Iwasakis actually sold or endorsed hones, a tiny part of my brain wonders if there's significance in the radical change. However, kanji eccentricities are not terribly uncommon, and don't necessarily suggest anything dishonest. I just don't remember that particular oddity being shown on anything else associated with Iwasaki (someone correct me on that if you have seen it elsewhere).

Edit: I was wrong about it not being elsewhere. The cover of Hamono no Mikata 刃物の見方 shown on Jim Rion's blog: Amazing! | Eastern Smooth: The Blog

here it is the example of Iwasaki's original kanji (from kamisori):

Lemur, the kanji are 岩崎選

<< thats indeed what was wanted

tho searching on them here brings lots of 'iwasaki election' results

i should just ask Takeshi what he sold me

i did buy a Tomonagura from him near that time, but its a varnished almost cubical extremely hard light brown

described as having scalpel/surgical-implement-honing capabilities iirc, as well as rubbing-stone

since i cant go round the shop and try things out, i buy from trust in the seller, not the stamps

sometimes i buy online cos i think the seller got it wrong

so so so

in 2010 i bought, from Takeshi-san:

Shiro Nagura 148.4g .. he gave me my choice between 2 but the linkies no workee now :: this is the one in question here, thanks for all the assistance everyone :: shiro-nagura-iwasaki-choice-fine-grit

Nakayama Tomo Nagura :: stamps on the face long lapped off, varnished on 5 sides cube

domo arigato gozeimashite