Hago (shuttlecock, left) and Hago-ita (battledores, right). The Hago was typically made of the seed of the Mokuran (soapberry tree) into which several small feathers were fastened. Traditionally crafted from Kiri wood, modern versions of the Hago-ita were fashioned from Sugi (Japanese cedar) in the Meiji Era and often decorated with the faces of famous actors. (Volume 1, pg. 31)

Featured on PDR in the collection Unai no tomo: Catalogues of Japanese Toys (1891–1923)

When Brooklyn Museum Curator of Ethnology Stewart Culin visited Japan for the first time in the fall of 1909, he escaped from the harangues of curio dealers by asking them to bring him a traditional children’s toy called burri-burri. Culin knew this rare and obscure object only from a specimen in Tokyo’s Imperial Museum and another owned by the collector Seifu Shimizu. Culin’s request to the dealers quickly confirmed the toy’s rarity, as neither he nor any of his numerous assistants were ever offered one. In the end, Culin asked Shimizu to make him a copy to bring back to Brooklyn.