File:BBG Japanese Garden Yuki-yoki 01.jpg

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Japanese Garden. Yuki-yoki. 1922.
 * Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
 * Photograph by: Louis Buhle
 * Date: November 29, 1922
 * Negative number: 04394

http://www.bbg.org/lib/hic/images/reference_web/04394r.jpg

This device, actually a yuki yoke (雪避け) in Japanese, is a snow deflector for trees.