Nakayama kiita koppa

These Nakayama tennen toishi koppa came from of a hoard of neglected and nearly forgotten stones that I bought in Japan this past year. The whole lot had been stored in an Air Raid Shelter below the floorboards of a building in a small town.

I found that each and every stone was hand-hewn, the sides were hand sawn and hand-scraped and many of the stones have kawa mineral skin on 3 or 4 sides indicating that they were harvested from narrow nooks and cavities within the Nakayama mine complex. The seller, who is 71 years old, told me that his grandfather bought the stones at least 90 years ago and that because the family never had been a stone or tool store, he said that they just never really sold enough to bother with over the years.

As a group and really from stone to stone, this collection is made up of the fastest cutting stones I have ever owned, and I have tested each and every one of them and found that they will remove and replace King 1k or Shapton 2k scratches within 15 strokes or fewer if a slurry is made from the kiita using a #1200 diamond plate. Without slurry and just clear water the stone will polish a Henckels razor for a bright finish with just a little effort and a few strokes.

I have found that each stone is so similar in hardness, cutting speed and fineness and that as a group they all follow each other in these respects so therefore it boils down to size, shape and inclusions or inclusion free to determine the price. Each stone ascribes to those attributes unless otherwise noted.


All of my stones come with a money back 


Although I have washed and scrubbed them, the stones seen on the right here are in generally the same condition as when I found them in that 5 by 6 by 5 foot high shelter.