Hatanaka ink stamped

Ohira Shiro Suita

This classic Ohira shiro suita contains all the elements that make the Ohira mine famous.
The level 5 hard pure white body is loaded with veins, clumps, threads and fields of renge in red and purple that run from the front to the back of the stone. There are areas of yake or buff brown and veins of brown suji, all of them not toxic and are benign to the sharpener. On the lower portion of the stone I have removed and retained the paper label so the stone can be tested, where is was tested you can see the true whiteness of the stone after the microns thin layer of oxidation was removed by sharpening on it.

The Hatanaka Toishi Company located in Kyoto has been the leading wholesale company of the 20th century and still continues to provide the most outstanding stones to the trades. They were the main buyer of Nakayama stones for years and maintained close ties which would eventually lead to their sole ownership of the Nakayama mine.

This sutia stone was purchased from the Ohira mine by the Hatanaka Co. and sold through their wholesale outlet after which it came to me. I believe that the stone was mined somewhere in the second half of the last century, the ink stamps look more recent, the box and label look older and might have been added by the retailer.

The stone reads at the upper center: Trade Mark, Yamashiro Honba, Mining H. Hatanaka,
Kyoto Japan. To the left middle is: Suita, to the right middle reads: Ohira Awasedo.
The paper label and the box read in a general sense: Yamashrio, Umegahata, Kyoto, Miners Select Piece. The Ohira mine is not in the Umegahata area and this is one reason I think that a retailer probably attached the label as a way to dress up the stone.

This is an actual true Ohira Suita stone, and the ink stamps are actually from the Hatanaka Company. I will guarantee this 110%.
This is a totally unique stone, I have yet to see another Ohira shiro sutia stone with the
Hatanaka Ink Stamp.