Ohira Habutae Suita

Dimensions (mm) / Weight

205x75x42, 1630g

Performance

Hardness / Fineness: 5- / 4+

The habutae, or “rice-cake”, is one of the rarest varieties of suita. These stones, regardless of mine, are typically very clean white or cream colored with little to no patterning. They are typically quite hard and fine, yet unusually fast and straight forward to use. This example from Ohira is no exception.

This stone is very hard; my worn Atoma 140 raises hardly any slurry. Yet, the stone is not at all glassy or challenging to use. From the first stroke dense black shavings are removed quickly creating a thick, inky black slurry. The cutting action is aggressive, meaning that, despite the stone’s enormous density, there is clear enjoyable tactile feedback – the blade never skips or grabs across a glassy surface. The stone is finer than other Ohira suita I have used, but not as fine finishing stones from Nakayama – I’d assign an 8-9k grit equivalence to this stone. This may be the only Japanese natural stone I have used that competes or exceeds similar grit synthetic stones in raw abrasive power.

This suita leaves a high contrast, high detail kasumi polish on san mai blades, the polishing application where I think it truly shines. Due to the speed, it is capable of removing scratches coarser than most finishing stones would and is able to handle nakatoishi or 5k synthetic scratches easily. This stone is well suited for all sharpening applications where a fine edge is desired.

This stone is mildly reactive and slurry should not be left on the surface or the blade for extended periods of time or you risk discoloration.

Aesthetics & Other Notes

The stone’s pure white surface is textbook habutae. There are no distinct layers through the height of the stone. There are lines at both ends of the stone. They are non-toxic and also in the area of the stone least used. The coloring of the stone becomes slightly more orange / yellow towards the bottom, but the appearance of that is overstated by the high level of oxidation the exterior of the stone carries from long term storage. The surface of the stone was more yellow prior to lapping revealed the stone’s true nature.

Through use, the pores and imperfections in the stones surface will take in metal shavings causing the surface to lose its pristine white characteristic. This does not impact performance but does affect the beauty of the stone. A gentle lapping will correct this easily, however.

This stone is sealed in clear lacquer. The stone will come with a shiro-suita nagura. 

Ohira (大平, Oohira, Ohirayama)

A Western mine famous for Uchigumori and the quality of its suita. Although the mine is still occasionally worked, it is increasingly challenging to find uchigumori and Ohira suita available for export. Reportedly, many togishi are worried about the long term supply of quality uchigumori stones. Due to the premium that comes with Ohira suita and uchigumori, it is not uncommon to see stones from other mines stamped or sold as Ohira.