Three Monkeys Playing with Deer

Attached to the end of a silk cord, netsuke were fashion accessories for men of the Edo period (1615–1868). These small sculptures are not only visually intriguing, but also practical. Netsuke were used as toggles to secure small personal objects such as carrying cases (inro) and tobacco pouches. Because kimonos did not have pockets, Japanese men hung personal items from a cord slipped under a sash (obi) and secured with a netsuke. A fine and functional netsuke would be compact, light, durable, and smooth without any sharp edges that could damage a kimono.

Assembling a thematically consistent set of netsuke and inro was a fashionable activity during the Edo period. A good ensemble would have been a fun source of conversation among friends who often sought new and interesting designs. To meet the demand, netsuke carvers chose a wide variety of subjects, including the animals, ghosts, and humans shown here. They executed their designs in great detail and often with humor, and created work out of ivory, wood, walrus tusk, bamboo, walnut, ceramic, and other materials.

Small found objects such as gourds, seashells, stones, and pieces of wood were initially used as toggles. Because of this, the Edo Japanese originally treated netsuke as purely functional objects and did not consider them works of art. This might explain why there is no extant primary record of the birth and development of netsuke, even though images of netsuke can be found as far back as the seventeenth century.

Gradually, netsuke evolved to the sophisticated miniature sculptures we know today. Some carvers signed their names on their work, showing that they considered them more than utilitarian objects. People appreciated the craftsmanship, diverse subject matters, and playful nature of netsuke. But in the late nineteenth century, when Japanese men began to wear Western style clothing with pockets, netsuke lost their importance and declined. These carefully carved miniature sculptures later became an obsession for collectors all over the world. The Asian Art Museum’s netsuke are one of its visitors’ most beloved collections. More than 1,600 netsuke are in the collection and over a hundred are on display at any given time.