Hon-Narutaki Suita

Dimensions (mm) / Weight

206x74x62 / 2,117g

Performance

Hardness / Fineness: 4 / 4

This is an excellent suita that cuts predictably and quickly on a range of steels leaving a fine kasumi finish in polishing terms. Despite being a harder stone, the feel is very smooth. This is an exceptional all purpose suita that can be used for final sharpening and polishing with knives and pre-finishing for tools and razors.

A stone of this size, quality, and ease of use is difficult to come by. I would happily recommend this stone to experienced users and beginners alike. 

Aesthetics & Other Notes

This stone is multi-layered. The top layer (the current sharpening surface) is an extremely uniform earth-toned stone. The layer beneath is riddled with blues and yellows, some karasu (evident on the bottom), namazu, and some pales lines. The buyer will get the joy of watching the stone evolve over years and years of use. 

Finding a true, hon-Narutaki suita is rather difficult these days. In fact, this is the first example I have personally used.

The stone is sealed.

Narutaki (鳴瀧, 鳴滝)

An Eastern mine producing finishing stones prized by togishi for jizuya. Confusingly, the same term often is used to describe the region where Eastern mine stones are produced. Stone from the mine proper, Hon-Narutaki, are rather rare these days.