Japan Japanese Standard Abacus Soroban Tomoe Four balls 23 figures

I have to say, it's amazing that such craft has gone into making an item that in every way looks, feels and smells like plastic! The gilding on the frame is stuck on with a sticker. The signature is clearly scratched into plastic. I own several Japanese lacquer pieces, and this is not it. You were done, guys; it's plastic. Trust your senses. That said it is smooth and well-made and I'll keep it. Note the price tag which remains in the box; if you think you can get a handcrafted wooden soroban for 4400 yen (about £20), I want to shop where you're shopping.

It's a proper soroban, very well-made. Everything is as described on the product page. At first I thought the frame was plastic, but that's just how the finish feels. It's actually wood, you can tell by the engraved signature on the inside of the frame. The whole thing is made of wood (and some bamboo, which is technically grass, but, you know). It's a very cool instrument. It was shipped from Japan and arrived during the first week of the 3-week estimated period, which was great. But, they could not deliver to my home address in the UK at first, because there was a customs charge. I had to pay an extra £11.91.

Fantastic soroban , well made , and the beads go and up smoothly ..it looks like plastic but I reckon is made of wood because you can see there is a signature on it . I really recommend it who want to practice with a nice and good quality abacus .

The material, finishing and the smoothness of the beads are all perfect.

a well crafted clean line polished wooden abacus. A collectible item for those who want to return to the roots of computation and its challenges without using a computer. I also have a Chinese abacus but this Japanese soroban is a refined miniature of it.