A knurl of wood with a long handle threaded with purple chord used as a personal massage hammer (Katatataki) to tap the muscles on ones back and shoulders cut from a natural burl of yellow hard wood. It is 4.5 cm (just less than 2 inches) diameter, 21 cm (8-1/4 inches) long and is in excellent condition. The name of a famous priest (Mokuan) is spuriously incised with precision and expertise into the handle. This type of implement lives in the realm of magonote which translates as grandchilds hand. As a priest would forsake the world and women, it was believed the spirits of his descendants that could never be born would inhabit these implements (back scratchers and shoulder massage hammers). A shoulder massage or back scratch would ordinarily be performed by the grandchild for an old man.
