#701 Shoubudani Asagi Nashiji Namazu Crisp Smooth LV3.5-4 Hard LV 3.5-4 Fine 882 Grams

Crisp yet smooth feeling Shoubudani, easy to use, feels close to hard but is still self slurrying, leaves a bright kasumi with nice contrast. Nice full near benchstone sized, technically still a koppa but nearing typical full size synthetic stone dimensions. 

sides sealed with cashew lacquer

180x75x28mm 882 grams

Shoubudani:

A ‘Higashi-mono’ (Eastern Mine Stone), Shoubudani is well known for producing a wide range of stones with different hardness and fineness. The Shoubudani mine produces some of the higher quality natural whetstones that are akin to Nakayama mine stones in their beautiful finish.

Asagi: This aesthetic term refers to the general color of the stone. Typically, Asagi stones are grey, light blue, greyish-blue/green, and tan. They are usually quite clean stones that are on the harder side. However, softer Asagi stones are great for knife polishing.

Nashiji: Meaning ‘pear-skin’, this aesthetic quality looks like tiny brown/pale dots on the stone. This quality can look similar to Su-holes on Suita stones as well as be a quality on Suita.

Namazu:

Translating to ‘cat-fish’, this aesthetic quality looks like white blotches on the stone. Usually this quality has a great sharpening feel that is smooth and tactile. In extreme cases of Namazu where the stone is very hard, it can be scratchy with too much pressure.