Antique Pair Japanese Carved Netsukes “Frogs & Lotuses” by Yoshiiz 吉泉, Meiji

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The Essence of Netsuke:

Like all art objects of great worth, netsuke distills the essence of a specific time and place. Worn as part of a traditional Japanese man’s ensemble from the 17th century onwards, the netsuke’s purpose was hyper-specific, and its functional simplicity lent artists unlimited freedom to redefine what it could be constantly.

Formally, netsukes have few requirements: they must be small, they must have holes through which to pass a single cord, and they must have no protuberances that could damage one’s kimono. Everything else is left to the carver’s imagination. As such netsuke differs in style, subject, and material as widely as the personalities of their makers, and they are consequently supremely collectible.

Netsuke emerged as a practical solution to dressing in 17th-century Japan. ‘Men’s kimonos didn’t have sewn-up sleeves — they were completely open, front and back, and that meant that the sleeves couldn’t be used as a pocket, as they could in women’s kimonos,’ Goodall explains. To carry things such as tobacco, medicine, or other necessities, men hung stylish inro and other vessels from cords looped under and behind the wide sashes that held their kimonos in place. At the other end of those cords, men fastened small, ornamental objects as counterweights; those objects evolved into netsuke.

The netsuke’s origins are still ‘theoretical’, Goodall says. ‘It’s thought that, with increasing imports from China in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the toggles used on Chinese clothing were imported,’ she explains. Those toggles may have spawned the netsuke.

But the netsuke we know today is a distinctly Japanese art form. ‘As the form developed, and as the netsuke carvers began to compete to come up with new and different ways of handling netsuke, then it became a localized art form that did not relate to anything in China,’ Goodall says. ‘It had completed its evolution by the 19th century.’

Much like jewelry, watches, and handbags today, netsuke were worn to match different occasions and ensembles. Japanese men who could afford them amassed netsuke to diversify their wardrobes.

Still, as Japanese fashion became more influenced by the West, netsuke disappeared from everyday use. Westerners took up the collector’s mantle. ‘In the Meiji period, right after Japan opened to the West in 1854, Americans and Europeans discovered netsuke and immediately started collecting them,’ Goodall says. ‘Westerners were so intrigued by netsuke that carvers continued to make a living by selling them to Westerners.’