Netsuke are the diminutive works of art that dangled from cords attaching purses or other pouches to a kimono's obi sash before Western garb ousted traditional dress after the modernizing Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Particularly in the political capital of Edo (present-day Tokyo), these woggles whittled from wood, horn, ivory, deer antler, mother of pearl or other materials would be talking points among wearers who'd compare their handiwork or fondle, caress and contemplate their tiny treasures in the centuries before clothes had pockets.
On the whole, netsuke were the realm of men, says netsuke carver Akira Kuroiwa, and smart types in Edo often had dozens. Now, though, according to no less an authority that the British Museum's website, "there are numbers of netsuke carvers working in all materials, except of course ivory."
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