{"id":4746,"date":"2025-06-09T12:04:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T09:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/?p=4746"},"modified":"2025-06-09T12:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T09:04:17","slug":"kas-yra-toma-nagura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/kas-yra-toma-nagura\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Toma Nagura?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Toma Nagura (\u7825\u9593\u540d\u5009)<\/strong> - is a traditional Japanese natural auxiliary stone used to form a suspension on the surface of the main honing stone. The term 'nagura' itself means 'rubbing stone' and 'Toma' is one of the old, classic types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Toma Nagura<\/strong> was mined in various parts of Japan, but today the old Toma Nagura mines of known quality have closed and the remaining examples are highly prized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Old Japanese usage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>\u300c\u7825\u9593 (Toma)\u300d<\/strong> - meant <strong>any piece of sharpening stone<\/strong>the cuttings or trimmings used to make the slurry by rubbing it against the bedrock.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tokyo <strong>\"Toma\"<\/strong> could have come from the same mine as the main stone, or from another mine.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It didn't always have to be of high quality or of a special coating - the suspension function was the key.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udccc <strong>How did the current concept of \"Toma Nagura\" come about?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over time, as the tradition of natural Japanese stones has evolved, nagura sets have come to signify not only function but also <strong>origin and level of abrasiveness<\/strong>. Then it's <strong>\"Toma Nagura\"<\/strong> started to be called:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Or <strong>very fine pebbles from a quality layer<\/strong>used for the last suspension.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Or, as in the old schools, <strong>any cut from another good stone<\/strong>used as a nagura.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Asano Mikawa Nagura system<\/strong> came later, standardising the layers and the progression of nacre from the coarsest to the finest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcca <strong>Toma Nagura characteristics<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Feature<\/th><th>Description<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Origin<\/strong><\/td><td>Historic mines in Japan, mostly in the Kyoto region<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Abrasiveness<\/strong><\/td><td>Mostly small but faster than Mejiro, close to Koma but can be any rough stone chip<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Suspension colour<\/strong><\/td><td>Depends on the properties of the stone in question<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Usage<\/strong><\/td><td>Mostly for finishing suspension, edge smoothing, precision polishing of razors and knives, but can be used for any stage<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udccc <strong>Where is it used?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Traditionally used with Awasedo (finishing natural stones)<\/strong> for the final polishing slurry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The coarser option allows any sharpening step<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ideal for the final \"smoothing\" of razor edges.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Used instead of Koma when a slightly softer but more abrasive effect is desired.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udccd <strong>Toma Nagura's place in the progression<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If we put it into a progression with Asano Mikawa Nagura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mushi &gt; Ban &gt; Atsu &gt; Yae Botan &gt; Botan &gt; Tenjyo &gt; Mejiro &gt; Toma &gt; Koma<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It stands between <strong>Mejiro<\/strong> and <strong>Coma<\/strong>, or even some schools instead of Koma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcd6 <strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2714\ufe0f <strong>\"Toma\"<\/strong> basically meant <strong>cuttings or trimmings<\/strong> any sharpening stone used to extract the slurry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2714\ufe0f <strong>In current terminology<\/strong> \"Toma Nagura\" is sometimes called <strong>rare old nails<\/strong>but it is more of a historical concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2714\ufe0f If someone says \"here's my toma nagura\", the old meaning might be <strong>any piece of natural stone<\/strong> for sharpening suspension.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toma Nagura (\u7825\u9593\u540d\u5009) \u2014 tai tradicinis japoni\u0161kas nat\u016bralus pagalbinis akmuo, naudojamas suspensijai suformuoti ant pagrindinio galandinimo akmens pavir\u0161iaus. Pati s\u0105voka \u201enagura\u201c rei\u0161kia \u201etrynimo akmen\u012f\u201c, o \u201eToma\u201c yra viena i\u0161 sen\u0173j\u0173, klasikini\u0173 r\u016b\u0161i\u0173. Toma Nagura buvo i\u0161gaunama \u012fvairiose Japonijos vietose, bet \u0161iandien \u017einomos kokybi\u0161kos senosios Toma Nagura kasyklos jau u\u017edarytos, o lik\u0119 pavyzd\u017eiai labai vertinami. Senajame [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[354],"class_list":["post-4746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-akmenys","tag-toma-nagura-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4748,"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746\/revisions\/4748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jnats.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}