Posting at HI-REZ to allow you to see the numerous silk threads coming up from all of the small spindles, and over to the huge reel. CLOSE CROP of the GIRL AND HER THREADS : www.flickr.com/photos/okinawa-soba/23134698794/ The amount of cocoons needed to produce all of these threads is hard to imagine. Throughout most of Japan, it was a very hard, and sometimes deadly life for the young girls who were employed in the Silk Mills. A HARD LIFE DESCRIBED : www.flickr.com/photos/okinawa-soba/14871659044/ ONE OF THE BETTER SILK MILLS : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomioka_Silk_Mill More links and discussions throughout the SILK Album HERE : www.flickr.com/photos/okinawa-soba/albums/72157623339925022 * From a circa 1900-05 T. ENAMI hand-colored lantern-slide view No.451 Arranging Silk in a Loom. Glass image printed from 1/2 of a full stereoview negative.