Netsuke | |
FOR CENTURIES IN PRE-MODERN JAPAN kimonos were the basic wearing apparel for both men and women, but these garments did not have pockets. Japanese women usually carried their small personal accessories in their kimono sleeves, or tucked them into their wide kimono sashes. However, Japanese men normally tied their personal accessories to toggled cords and suspended them from the kimono sash, creating detachable, external pockets.
Japanese men wore many different kinds of objects (sagemono) suspended from the kimono sash (obi). Most common were bags of flint, steel, and tinder for lighting fires; tiered cases (inro) for signature seals and later for medicines; tobacco pouches and boxes (tonkotsu); pipe cases; money purses and wallets; and dozens of other items. The entire ensemble consisted of the suspended object (sagemono), the toggle (netsuke), the fastener (ojime) that secured the lid or opening of the case or pouch, and the suspension cords (himo).
Although netsuke, ojime, and sagemono were functional accessories,
they were beautiful as well as useful. Often they were designed for use
as amulets, charms and talismans, and the materials from which they were
crafted were believed to possess magical and medicinal powers. Frequently
the ensembles were valuable and enviable status symbols that gave prestige
to those who wore them. The best artisans of Japan were commissioned to
create these objects, specialists in wood and ivory carving, lacquerers,
metal smiths, ceramists, and gemstone carvers. Recently, these traditional
crafts of past centuries have evolved as vibrant international art forms,
and some of these contemporary works, representing the art of sculpture
in its most diminutive form, combine artistry and aesthetics at unsurpassed
levels of excellence. |