Marudai in the mail

I am taking at class in Kumihimo braiding at the Bead and Button Show on June 5 in Milwaukee. As part of this class, I needed to purchase a Marudai, which is a frame for making this Japanese braid. We will be using strands of beads to make the braid, and the foam Kumihimo form that I already own would not do. They are made out of wood, and have bobbins which hold the fiber and you move the bobbins around. There are an infinite number of braining patterns that can be used. All very Japaenese. I will try to learn one of two and make necklaces. This is a picture of a Marudai similar to the one that my teacher is sending to me and which is in the mail. I'm almost as excited about this ancient form of braiding on a wooden stand as Michael Shea was about his new Ipad: technology a thousand years or so apart.