This is not your typical gizmoe-on-a-stick. It looks like a one-of-a-kind gadget that grandma made to help her with some specialized "spinning" of an important thread. See the YouTUBE link from flickr member LOREAMAR in comment # 1 below. Everything you see in the photo above will come alive just past the 4:30 (4 minute, 30 second) mark. The video shows that Japanese silk culture has carefully guarded the thread making procedures with virtually no change over the decades...and centuries. Thanks again, LOREAMAR. ************************************************ Ca.1915-23. For more on the photographer T. ENAMI see : www.t-enami.org/ For the MOTHERLODE of T. Enami photographs here on the Web --- all CC rated for your creative use --- see this Flickr collection : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/collections/7215761388... RANDOM SOBA : www.flickriver.com/photos/24443965@N08/random/