Ohira Renge Suita

Dimensions (mm) / Weight

205x75x52 / 1,929g

Performance

Hardness / Fineness: 4 / 4+

This type of heirloom grade suita doesn’t come along often. The stone is fast, provides good feedback, and exceptional results. High qjuality Ohira are increasingly rare and this stone is a great example of how the mine achieved it’s lofty reputation. This stone is quite fine for an Ohira suita. Whether your primary objective is edge sharpening or kasumi polishing this stone will not disappoint. Please don’t buy it, I want to keep it.

Aesthetics & Other Notes

A pure white base with dense, even patterning of aka renge. One of the corners is slightly slanted, the only thing preventing this stone from being a museum specimen with truly astronomical price tag. The oxidized coloring causes no issues and disappears within the first 2mm of stone and won’t reappear until much further down. Truly beautiful to behold, I’ve frequently heard this type of stone described as “wagyu.”

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.