What do the Stamps on Mikawa Nagura Mean?

[Gamma]

I've been asked about what the stamps on Mikawa Nagura mean enough times to think maybe this might be helpful.

The Nagura below is a Jyun Mikawa Betsu Jou Botan

The stamp in the lower right corner, Jun Mikawa Shironagura - means 'Authentic/Pure White Mikawa Nagura'.


The red stamp indicates that the Nagura has been officially evaluated, at one time this was done by Nagayuki Asano.


Stamps and some meanings for the names of some of the different strata

ボタン　Botan (Peony)
八重ボタン Yae-Botan
天上　Tenjou (Heaven/Sky)
目白　Mejiro (White-Eye)
コマ　Koma　(fine)
アツ Atsu
バン Ban


Note - both Botan are always stamped in Katakana. I don't know why.



Some Kanji and translations for the different grades

Note - these grades do not infer that one is 'better' in any way other than aesthetics.
The shape and color is all that is factored into the grading/quality system.
So - a superior grade or Betsu Ju Botan is just as good a stone as a Superior High Grade Tokkyujou Botan.
The difference is that the former is oddly shaped and mostly white, where the latter is very square and striped.

Superior high grade (特級上),
High grade (特級),
Superior Selected grade (別上)
Superior grade (上級)


Tokkyujou - 上特級 - striped with square shape.
Tokkyuu - 特級 - striped with odd shape.
Bestu Dai Jou - 別大上 - white with uniform square shape.
Betsu Jou - 別上 - white with odd shape.

Just for fun;
Tomo Nagura - ともなぐら　共名倉
Chu Nagura.. 中名倉


I may have goofed or mixed something up here - if you spot a mistake, Pls let me know and I'll edit it.

 

[JGKC9AYC]

Thanks for the kanji lesson!

 

[jpcwon]

Very informative!! Thanks Gamma!! Now I gotta go see what grade mine are..

 

[Doc226]

Awesome

 

[Sejanus]

Hey Gamma, out of interest have you ever come across/have any info on the '記念品' stamp? I have seen a couple of pictures of Nagura with such a stamp but never any info to go along with them. They seem to be quite rare?

 

[Gamma]

記念品 means souvenier or memento or something along those lines.

Past that - I don't know anything about why that would be on a Nagura, unless it was a gift or something.

Yes - I've seen the pix of one with that stamp - I just don't know what the story is.

Whether it's rare, real, was a gift or a whatever is unknown to me.

 

[GreekGuy]

Awesome post! I'm sure this will be helpful to many

 

[Sejanus]

記念品 means souvenier or memento or something along those lines.

Past that - I don't know anything about why that would be on a Nagura, unless it was a gift or something.

Yes - I've seen the pix of one with that stamp - I just don't know what the story is.

Whether it's rare, real, was a gift or a whatever is unknown to me.

Considering I have only seen the one and can find no info anywhere on it.. I'm assuming at the very least it is an extremely rare example.

My other thought is that it could be a VERY high quality piece and be above the standard classification stamps, though that is simply a guess on my part.

 

[Gamma]

Personally - I seriously doubt that it would be super-high-quality and stamped 'souvenier' at the same time.
But - anything could be possible I guess.

 

[CanonSterVa]

Wealth of information.
Thanks for the clarification.

 

[alx gilmore]

Great post, will go into my notebook,
Alx

 

[Raithskar]

Thanks a lot Gamma! Good stuff!

 

[Bayamontate]

Excellent job Gamma! As far as I know, everything is on-point.

 

[Gamma]

Thanks everyone - I've been keeping notes for a while so I figured I'd put it all into one place.

I just updated the original post a bit - added a few things I remembered today.

 

[rockviper]

Thanks Gamma! I really appreciate the info.

 

[buca3152]

Sources for Jnats besides JNS? Not knocking JNS as I am very satisfied with everything Ive gotten from them. ANd maybe a stone recommendation. I have a shuobodani 100, kouzaki, ozuku asagi, and nakayama asagi 5+. I like zippy edges as I get from the ozuku shuobodani and nakayama. The kouzaki is like a coti. Or maybe someone has a stone for sale? Would it be worth it to get a kamisori stamped stone? Thanks.

 

[jpcwon]

Sources for Jnats besides JNS?

I just bought my newest Nakayama from Alex Gilmore (thejapanblade.com), and have nothing but good things to say! The nice thing about Alex is that he provides an in-depth review of each stone (right down to the HHT he got!) that he personally hones on. So you can be sure that if you're not getting good results from the stone, then it's gotta be you & not the stone! He will also work with you via email (not that Maksim won't, he will too) to get the best stone....

I would definitely buy another stone from Alex for sure...

aframestokyo.com is another good site for JNATs....I am pretty sure he tests all his stones as well...

 

[mainaman]

Considering I have only seen the one and can find no info anywhere on it.. I'm assuming at the very least it is an extremely rare example.

My other thought is that it could be a VERY high quality piece and be above the standard classification stamps, though that is simply a guess on my part.

Bad quality with inclusions, usually for collectors but not for use.
I have seen quite a few Koma with that stamp

 

[mainaman]

Sources for Jnats besides JNS? Not knocking JNS as I am very satisfied with everything Ive gotten from them. ANd maybe a stone recommendation. I have a shuobodani 100, kouzaki, ozuku asagi, and nakayama asagi 5+. I like zippy edges as I get from the ozuku shuobodani and nakayama. The kouzaki is like a coti. Or maybe someone has a stone for sale? Would it be worth it to get a kamisori stamped stone? Thanks.

Kamizori stamped stones mean that are for razor, but so are a lot others that are not stamped.

 

[Cobre]

Great post, saved to my Evernote!

One of the hardest aspects of jnat honing is that despite the fact that there is a wealth of info about it, it seems to be scattered across at least 4 shaving boards and 3-4 ecommerce sites/blogs. Not to mention that a lot of recommendations seem rather vague and cryptic to us nOObs...