context: sculpture

Netsuke

an octopus, by Tomotada

People in old Japan didn't have pockets, so attached things to the sash around the waist of their kimonos, most commonly inro. The attachment was a cord passing under the sash, held at the other end by a small carving, called a netsuke, normally less than 2" in size. They seem to have derived from 16th Century Chinese ivory carvings, though wood overtook ivory for first place, and shell, bone, horn, even metal and precious stones were sometimes used. They were most often animals.

After the Meiji restoration, men switched to western-style suits: pockets, no sash, therefore no need for netsuke as toggles, so floods of them headed west, and it's one of the more famous distinctly Japanese art forms.