The Kitayama stone is often advertised as a 12,000 grit
water stone, but it is actually an 8,000-9,000 grit water stone. The interesting thing about the Kitayama stone however, is that while it is barely a finer grit than a
Norton (if finer at all) it does a much, much better job at eliminating scratch patterns from
hones, and as a result is quite a nice polishing/finishing
hone, and will leave a very smooth, very nice edge on your razor. The Kitayama comes with an artificial nagura stone, which I don't recommend using when
honing razors with this stone as this stone is so soft it provides outstanding feel/feedback I think the nagura ends up doing more harm than good. Speaking of feedback by the way, this stone offers AMAZING feedback, and is just about the most fun
hone to use. You can really feel what's going on and you just sort of "know" when the edge is perfectly honed. I am quite fond of this
hone, and it is certainly striking, as it is quite large (8-1/8 X 3 X 1)and beautifully mounted to a large piece of wood. This
hone is pretty easy to use, and I've found does not need to be soaked, merely wet the top of the
hone, and it should be ready to go. Great hone, but overall, I think there are better, less expensive options.