It is still possible to buy really high grade stones from the smaller retailers, wholesalers and miners in Japan like Brooksie mentions, even by e-mail if you are lucky for a lot less then if you were to go to a stone boutique like Hatanaka-san has in Kyoto or Morihei in Tokyo. Some of the shops are now advertising true Nakayama stones from their old stock, some dating back to their fathers era. Although it was not openly discussed until the last 4 or 5 years and they were not stamping them as such, there are still a lot of Nakayama stock out there because it was the last of the major mines to have closed and Hatanaka was not the sole wholesaler for the Nakayama mine so stones did get distributed to other shops. I have been buying un-marked Nakayama stones for a few years now from Ohira and Imanishi, and a couple of others. Until recently it was frowned upon by the Kyoto Toishi Association to ink stamp stones with a Nakayama logo but now it is happening more and more. I bought this small koppa earlier this year from Imanishi, it is clearly marked Nakayama in ink on the right.
These koppa can be for like Brooksie said purchased for a $100 or so, this is a hand held size and I bought if for reference and it is not for sale. The president of the Kyoto Toishi Association, Hitomi-san from Kameoka is also ink stamping his cache of Nakayama stones with the Nakayama kanji. I have bought Nakayama stones from Hitomi-san also, a really nice guy.
I did sell a sort of imfamous Nakayama stone a few years ago that I bought from Ishihara-san, the owner of the Ohira mine. He has some Nakayama stock left over from when he worked for Kato-san in the 1960s. Ishihara-san is in this photo driving the bulldozer at the Nakayama mine site, part of his pay was a big load of raw shaped Nakayama stones.
Ishihara-san also sells at shows like the Kezuroukai, one is coming up in Odawara on November 11 & 12th. I used to go up to his mine every trip and buy stones, Max from JNS has photos of the inside of his work/storage site. Max probably has bought Nakayama stones from Ishihara-san but because Max says that he cannot tell the different mines from the kawa skin he might not realize he has them. I have bought several Nakayama stones from Ishihara-san over the years, this is the largest and most infamous one that I bought. Weighed about 5 pounds.
Here is a photo of Ishihara and his lovely wife stamping that stone for me.
Really nice people and if you can drive up there to their workshop if you can call ahead they will be glad to see almost anyone. That large stone that I bought, the one by his right thigh is the stone that gets a lot of Air Time on a particuar European stone website, claiming in an covert way that some sellers in the U.S. are selling Ohira stone as expensive Nakayama stones.
Buying Nakayama stones with ink stamps or without can be tricky, but if you know what to look or and or can return the stone there are some good deals out there.
I hope this helps in someway.
Alex
These koppa can be for like Brooksie said purchased for a $100 or so, this is a hand held size and I bought if for reference and it is not for sale. The president of the Kyoto Toishi Association, Hitomi-san from Kameoka is also ink stamping his cache of Nakayama stones with the Nakayama kanji. I have bought Nakayama stones from Hitomi-san also, a really nice guy.
I did sell a sort of imfamous Nakayama stone a few years ago that I bought from Ishihara-san, the owner of the Ohira mine. He has some Nakayama stock left over from when he worked for Kato-san in the 1960s. Ishihara-san is in this photo driving the bulldozer at the Nakayama mine site, part of his pay was a big load of raw shaped Nakayama stones.
Ishihara-san also sells at shows like the Kezuroukai, one is coming up in Odawara on November 11 & 12th. I used to go up to his mine every trip and buy stones, Max from JNS has photos of the inside of his work/storage site. Max probably has bought Nakayama stones from Ishihara-san but because Max says that he cannot tell the different mines from the kawa skin he might not realize he has them. I have bought several Nakayama stones from Ishihara-san over the years, this is the largest and most infamous one that I bought. Weighed about 5 pounds.
Here is a photo of Ishihara and his lovely wife stamping that stone for me.
Really nice people and if you can drive up there to their workshop if you can call ahead they will be glad to see almost anyone. That large stone that I bought, the one by his right thigh is the stone that gets a lot of Air Time on a particuar European stone website, claiming in an covert way that some sellers in the U.S. are selling Ohira stone as expensive Nakayama stones.
Buying Nakayama stones with ink stamps or without can be tricky, but if you know what to look or and or can return the stone there are some good deals out there.
I hope this helps in someway.
Alex
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