Tall Netsuke
By Yoshida Yukari / Sagemonoya Gallery / Excerpt from Daruma 23
Netsuke are artistic sculptures unique to Japan. Though originally just plain accessories helping to attach things which hung from the waist (sagemono) like inrô or tobacco pouches, netsuke now are as highly ranked as these delicate works, thanks to their great artistry and luxurious materials.Netsuke have a history of some 400 years which is unusual in the field of small handicrafts and they offer features which are not seen in other arts or crafts. As such they form an important source of material for studying Japan and the world of long ago.Noticeable features of netsuke:
1. Under Edo era Japan’s class system, people of all ranks owned netsuke but social standing hugely affected the workmanship and quality of materials. Nevertheless netsuke remained objects for practical use.
2. Netsuke never became religious ornaments or tools for ceremonies, so few netsuke depict specific religious subjects or symbols.
3. The range of carvers dedicated to netsuke was quite exceptional: artisans in every field of art and craft (painters, sculptors of Buddhist images, ramma or transom carvers, lacquerers, mask carvers and casters, glass-makers, etc.) made netsuke as a hobby or on request.Netsuke provide clues, therefore, for learning about the best techniques in the arts and crafts of those days. In addition, netsuke used an astounding list of materials like umimatsu and narwhal from inside the country and out.
4. Many netsuke are signed, though at that time artists generally were not supposed to, except in special fields like painting. Indeed one of the great glories of the netsuke made in modern Shimane but known historically as Iwami, is that the carvers inserted long descriptions of the carver, date and circumstances under which some of the pieces were carved. A large number of carvers are recorded in an 18th century book, the Soken Kisho by Inaba Tsûryû. The presence of names (not always genuine or contemporary, by the way, so extra caution is needed there too!) expand the area of interest for collectors and scholars, as it allows bodies of work to be collated, and individuals studied.
5. Almost all netsuke have hidden implications or imizuke, a subject I shall come back to later. There were no special restrictions on the motifs used, whereas almost every other facet of life in Edo Japan was tightly regulated. Thus netsuke enjoyed endless variety which is why they are so appreciated everywhere today.