Until modern times, Japan seems to have been almost unique in having no tradition of jewelry, apart from the stone beads and gold accessories found in burial mounds from the last few centuries of the prehistoric period until circa seventh century. Elaborate necklaces, bracelets and diadems could be seen on images of Buddhist deities, but these were modeled after works from mainland Korea and China that in turn reflected those of the Indian subcontinent, and so were not born of native culture.

Still, dressing up is very much a part of social nature, and thus through the Edo Period (1603-1867), the military elite, court nobles and high-ranking clerics displayed their prestige by wearing elaborate silk costumes or fancy armor (ordinary people were limited to homespun fabrics). Costume accessories, apart from the panoply of warriors — such as sword guards or helmet decoration — were rather rare at the time, though, as the craftsmen of Japan concentrated their talents instead on designing and decorating objects that could be used.

The early Edo Period saw the rise of rich merchants and a new urban culture revolving around the pursuit of amusements such as sumo, kabuki and the flourishing licensed pleasure quarters. Perhaps to subvert official restrictions on ostentation, sagemono — "hanging things," such as small tobacco pouches and inro containers for medicines — together with the netsuke toggles from which these objects were suspended from a man's obi by a silk cord, evolved as essential accessories for the city dandy. The miniature works of art are carved from wood, ivory, stag-antler, lacquer and other materials that, as with watches today, furnished hints about the wearer's level of wealth and taste.