From Kuroki, the blue label and the premium are both made from Mexican clams. He also has the "Legendary Hyuga" which are made from the Japanese clams.
Snow grade (extremely expensive) has straight lines on the stones.
Blossom grade has semi-straight lines, but don't have the straight lines of the snow grade.
See the pictures on his site for these:
http://shop.kurokigoishi.co.jp/en/item/208
Blue label are stones that don't meet the strict quality of the snow/blossom grade stones. But I have a set of the blue label, and they look great.
The difference is a small matter of aesthetics. If you're really interested in figuring out if its worth it for the more expensive stones, then get a sample of each (available via his site) and take a look. I'd point more to the blue label, and getting the size you want. If you have a large disposable income, and want to spend a couple of grand on stones, by all means, but unless you're a collector, blue label is probably enough. I'd spend more money getting the size that you want in the blue label series than on getting the better grade stones. (Edit: Blossom stones cost twice as much as blue label for the same size, as of this writing.)
From Erythen:
Quote: Yuki (Snow) grade - These stones are cut from near the base of the clamshell where the grain is finer. The grain will generally be strait. Because it's cut near the base, you can't get more than one, maybe two (if you're lucky) stones from a large shell.
Tsuki (Moon) grade - These stones are cut from the center. They'll still have a nice grain but not as fine as Snow Grade. Furthermore, there will be a slight curve in the grain along the sides of the stone. You'll tend to get 2 - 3 stones from a shell.
Jitsuyo (Standard) grade - These stones are cut at the widest end of the shell so the grain isn't at all fine, but you can get a lot more of them. Where each shell might get one snow grade stone, you can get 4-6 standard grade. The grain on a standard stone might curve like a moon grade, but with most sets I've seen, it'll wrap around the stone in a wide arc.
Source: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=8967
I have size 30 blue label stones, and size 33 moon grade stones (purchased prior to the changes in January). I prefer the size 33 stones (for their size), but both look great on the board.
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, maybe I can get the Hiba but I don't know if that'd be ok with stones so thin and I'd lost my "set discount".