No Longer Unearthed—Inoshiriyama’s Lesson in the Art of Subtle, Hazy Sharpening Umegahata, Kyoto. This area was once home to a concentration of Japan’s leading natural whetstone mines. Nakayama, Okudono, Kitayama, Beniyama, and Mukoda – these names are still talked about among grinding stone enthusiasts today, but there is one mine in particular that is particularly mysterious and about which little information...
