Honyama Renge Shiro Suita

Dimensions (mm) / Weight

206x78x43 / 1,740g

Performance

Hardness / Fineness: 5 / 5+

This stone is exceptionally high quality. While it is very hard and extremely fine, it is not challenging to use as many similar stones are. The feedback is hard without being glassy and the stone cuts relatively quickly for the extreme level of refinement on offer. While it won't flatter imperfect surface prep or sub-par technique, it can polish and sharpen at the highest level. I'd comfortably recommend this stone for razor finishing, tool sharpening, and even kitchen knife edges. Given its hardness, size, and purity I'd consider this piece to be a lifetime / heirloom stone. 

Aesthetics & Other Notes

The stone has a very pure white to cream base that looks and feels similar to bone china. There is a dense renge / momiji patterning as well. The stone is almost entirely sunashi. The line on the surface is benign.

The stone is sealed.

Honyama (  本山)

It is easy to get caught up in the precise provenance of certain stones. While it is always preferable to have precise information to a stones source, there are many incredible stones for which the wholesaler or vendor lacks enough information to give a precise origin. I consider it the sign of a good seller to acknowledge when a stone's mine is unknown.