Wabisabi-Ken
Well-Known Member
Just got back from a bit of a day trip around Kyoto, I visited totori ya and a whetstone museum in Kyoto. I figure I may as well post about it for anyone interested for whenever Japan opens back up!
First up Totori ya, it's a quaint little place in the countryside. Kind of hard to find actually! It's just a house with a bit of a shed setup, keepin it real kinda vibes. Tuchihasi san came out and greeted me and my friend and opened up his shed with his stock. He then quickly grabbed a large stone and suggested I give it a whirl, the price tag on it was around 300,000 yen or 2,200 USD mark. Sheesh. Way out of my budget but cool to have a try no obligations. I must say though it felt and performed amazingly. Super smooth while working quickly and producing a small amount of mud with a beautiful contrasty finish... Tuchihasi san was friendly and eager to let us try out whatever we wanted so we ended up trying out multiple stones which was a great experience. I was keen on one stone which performed nicely and seemed like it wasn't going to be too expensive, no markings on it and was totally different to the rest of the stock he had.. turns out after asking his assistant for price he said it wasn't for sale haha. It was a rare particularly fine aizu. With cool solid green spots that I haven't seen on an aizu yet. I was a bit gutted about it not being for sale to be honest haha. Anyway, didn't buy anything this time. Maybe I'll go visit again with a brick of cash.
The first stone he handed me to try
The aizu
Some of the stones we tried out
Yours truly with the man himself in the background
First up Totori ya, it's a quaint little place in the countryside. Kind of hard to find actually! It's just a house with a bit of a shed setup, keepin it real kinda vibes. Tuchihasi san came out and greeted me and my friend and opened up his shed with his stock. He then quickly grabbed a large stone and suggested I give it a whirl, the price tag on it was around 300,000 yen or 2,200 USD mark. Sheesh. Way out of my budget but cool to have a try no obligations. I must say though it felt and performed amazingly. Super smooth while working quickly and producing a small amount of mud with a beautiful contrasty finish... Tuchihasi san was friendly and eager to let us try out whatever we wanted so we ended up trying out multiple stones which was a great experience. I was keen on one stone which performed nicely and seemed like it wasn't going to be too expensive, no markings on it and was totally different to the rest of the stock he had.. turns out after asking his assistant for price he said it wasn't for sale haha. It was a rare particularly fine aizu. With cool solid green spots that I haven't seen on an aizu yet. I was a bit gutted about it not being for sale to be honest haha. Anyway, didn't buy anything this time. Maybe I'll go visit again with a brick of cash.
The first stone he handed me to try
The aizu
Some of the stones we tried out
Yours truly with the man himself in the background
