Japanese whetstone translation help please

[sugarsnout]

Hello all

I bought this whet stone in Japan about 15 yrs ago.

I forgot the area or prefecture or mine 

where it came from.

I looked online but no can find

The stone is dark, thick, with edges sawcut which I understand may have been cut in 1932. 

Seems like a hard stone very smooth

THANKS for any help

[Bugyotsuji]

ヨドバシ.com - 畑中砥石 天然砥石 「衣笠」 錐箱入 通販【全品無料配達】 (yodobashi.com)

畑中Hatanaka is the name of the shop, Marc. New ones can still be found for sale. 天然Ten-nen means natural, 砥石'toishi' (togi + ishi) means whetstone, polishing stone. 衣笠 Igasa may be the type or place of origin of stone?

 

And one here in Kyoto:

京都天然砥石 京都弁財天砥石 宗正特選 仕入れ・畑中砥石 | 日本刃物総本店 (Japanese-cutlery.com)

[ROKUJURO]

Marc,

if it is a fine, hard stone, it might be close to UCHI GUMORI. You will have to try it with (not the best) knife to see how it works!

In any case it seems to be a precious stone today!

[sugarsnout]

Wow

I knew you folks were good but now appear to be the BEST!

GREAT info, thank you for your time.

Now, I can sleep at night 😊

Many thanks

Marc in NC 

[sugarsnout]

Rokujuro

Seems you were correct, it seems to be an Ohira Uchigumori whetstone of the hard variety. I zoomed the pics online and found the same micro white spots as mine. Stone color the same . 3.5lbs weight

Thanks for the help folks, I would have been lost without you.