HIMEJI, Hyogo Pref. -- For a long time, koma (tops) were commonly given to children during the New Year's season. These days, however, the traditional toy is wobbling on the edge of extinction.

Shozo Nishizawa, 66, who is said to be the last lathe artisan in the Kansai region, thinks it a shame that the tradition of making Himeji koma will probably not survive as a profit-making business but more likely as a hobby. Nishizawa only hopes that his sons-in-law will someday develop an interest in the craft.

Originally created during the Edo Period, the Himeji koma was known for its unique spin, imparted by a steel stem and ring around the widest part of the body. Before World War II, Nishizawa's father Gensui, a master koma-maker, ran a factory that employed five workers and produced koma and other wooden products by lathe.

Nishizawa worked with his father from age 15, but due to the decline in demand for wooden products, he switched to a company job at age 30. Nevertheless, he continued making koma on weekends, and since his retirement last year, he has devoted himself to the task. The process involves more than just carving a cone. "Creating the sharp point is not difficult," says Nishizawa, who can now accomplish this in a matter of minutes. "One can learn it in a few months. What is difficult is making your own knives [used for carving the wood], which takes at least five years to learn."

Since his father's death 13 years ago, Nishizawa has been making the traditional toy by himself, handling each step, from preparing the wood, which is taken from the soft core of dried egonoki (Japanese snowbell), to painting colors on the finished product.

The lathe, however, is where Nishizawa's craftsmanship really comes into play. Starting at the top, Nishizawa's hands transform the block of wood into a folk-art masterpiece.

"Other than a mark to decide the thickness, everything I do here is based solely on experience," he says.

In a few minutes, the bottom becomes a smooth conical shape. Finally, he makes a hole with a special knife and bangs the steel stem in with a hammer. "Some parents have requested, for safety reasons, that the steel stem be replaced with a wooden one, but I couldn't give in," he says, referring to the importance of staying as close to the original design as possible.

Contemporary conditions, however, make it difficult to preserve the tradition. For example, his koma now lack steel rings because local smiths stopped making them about 20 years ago, Nishizawa says, and therefore the lighter koma don't spin as long.

Only rarely, Nishizawa says, can he make a koma that "spins forever," or stands upright even after it stops spinning.

"This type of koma is a product of chance -- a result of a perfect balance between the stem and the wooden piece. I can't create one like that," says Nishizawa, who has made only four such in the last 10 years. Though the future of the craft is grim, Nishizawa and other local seniors are trying to keep it spinning a little longer by teaching schoolchildren how to play with the toy. "About half of the kids can spin the tops after a while," he says. "But it is a little sad that most of them didn't know how to play with koma before we showed them how."