Need help identifying this JNat

[leeskeeee]

Hi there,
I received this JNat from a buddy and he said it was an “Aoto” but no other information given. Doesn’t look like an Aoto to me as I’ve only seen them in the grey ish blue color.
Any thoughts on what this might be? Feel’s course almost like binsui or aizu.

 

[ethompson]

Knee jerk reaction would be binsui, but there are a lot of esoteric lesser known mid grits out there and I wouldn't rule one of those out.

 

[refcast]

Yeah it's probably a binsui. I'm used to binsui being more white though and uniform

Usually characteristics of midgrit japanese stones:

Aoto are blue, then red and tan are some less common colors. They are muddy usually

Binsui are usually coarse and hard with voids like yours

Amakusa are slightly coarser than binsui

Omura are very coarse sandstone and grey

Iyoto are hard and somewhat fine-ish. The coloration and mottling resembles some binsui though

Aizu are velvety and very fine and white

Ikarashi are blue green

Yamagata kazuma are smooth creamy and tan

Ueno and tajima look kinda similar but are hard and fine