18 Japanese Art By Juliet Highet


Netsuke open a window into the culture and society of the Edo period (1615-1868). Although they gradually came to be considered an art form, essentially


they had a practical


function – they were used as toggles to fasten personal accessories to a man’s sash (obi). Te word ‘netsuke’ literally means ‘root’ (ne), ‘to attach’ (tsuke), and functions in both the singular and plural forms. Te traditional wrap-over robe,


the


kimono worn by both men and women, had no pockets, although the women’s version had space in the sleeves to store small objects. Men carried their personal belongings hung from their sash, into which a sword was tucked. Tese suspended items (sagemono) included compartmented boxes (inro) used to store herbal medicine or personal seals, as well as money pouches,


small equipment, sets of writing and smoking


paraphernalia such as a pipe and tobacco. Each sagemono was attached to a woven silk cord (himo) and a fastener, a spherical bead, an ojime, with a hole through it. Te cord was tucked behind the sash to a netsuke displayed over the top of the sash. So essentially, it was a stopper or toggle, preventing the suspended items from falling to the ground.


Te netsuke needed to have two holes through which the silk cord passed, and also to be sculpted with smooth edges, so as not to damage the kimono fabric. Its owner would have coordinated the netsuke, the suspended items and his kimono according to the season, the weather, and also, of course, to his inclination that day, its activities, and the people he would meet. In essence,


the


ensemble demonstrated the sartorial discrimination of its wearer, his status and wealth. During the Edo period, merchants


were only permitted to wear kimonos of dark silk or cotton, as regulated by shogunate law. So netsuke, which could be concealed beneath the folds of their kimonos, allowed them to flout such restrictions,


wood has been one of the main materials used for carving Buddhist sculpture, and for the construction of buildings such as temples and shrines. An ugly, yet


endearing lion-head


(ranchu) goldfish netsuke of boxwood, its eyes inlaid with horn, was originally a pale creamy colour, though over time and with handling, it has acquired a deeper chestnut coloured patina. Goldfish (kingyo) were kept as pets from the 1800s onwards. Other woods used


include ebony - creating dramatic black miniature sculptures,


for netsuke cherry,


Netsuke of a sleeping rat by Masanao of Kyoto, Japan, late 18th century. Courtesy Te Trustees of the British Museum


NETSUKE Miniature Masterpieces


and use of materials evolved and became more sophisticated, so that they began to be treasured as miniature sculptures. However,


as expressing


their sense of style, as well as their sense of humour. For instance, a netsuke of Takuan Soho (1573-1645), one of the most prominent Zen Buddhist monks of his time, renowned for his knowledge of the arts such as calligraphy and painting, shows him carrying a truly enormous radish. Te reason is that he had concocted a recipe for pickled radish, which is still popular in Japan today. In fact Buddhist deities and icons were often depicted in amusing situations, such as a netsuke of a pair of Nio, fierce guardian statues, who normally stand either side of the gateway to a Buddhist temple or shrine. Tese ones are shown arm- wrestling.


Belying their dignified


ceremonial role, their bodies are depicted crumpled up, and as their wrestling contest reaches its climax, their faces are comically distorted with effort. Tis exhibition features a selection of netsuke and other traditional male dress accessories from the Edo period and is a British Museum Partnership Exhibition with the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath. Te pieces have been chosen from both collections. It must have been a hard though riveting task to select from over 2,300 of the British Museum’s holding and other pieces from the MEAA’s collection. Netsuke were worn from the late


16th century to the 19th century, and at first were relatively basic functional objects, rarely of artistic interest. But as time passed, their workmanship


ASIAN ART MARCH 2018


Laws for the military houses, 1615 declared: ‘Do not have a liking for useless articles and do not indulge in personal extravagance’. As Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum explains in his foreword to the catalogue for a previous exhibition of netsuke at the museum, Dressed to Impress, in 2014: Te ‘dress code was constrained by the laws laid down by (the) samurai rulers. Te basic robe for a male of the townsman class in the Edo period, had, by edict, to be subdued, but this could be offset


with


happily. Apparently, under her sway, the emperor neglected his imperial duties and became addicted to a life of pleasure and debauchery. Te discontented populace revolted, Yang Guifei was killed and the emperor forcibly retired. From the 17th century onwards,


many illustrated printed books were exported from China to Japan. Te vast variety of legends,


retained its own spectacular,


lavishly crafted personal accessories, providing these were worn discreetly’. Society in Edo period Japan was divided hierarchically into four classes in descending order: samurai warriors, farmers, craftsmen and merchants or tradesmen. According to Confucian philosophy, merchants were regarded as less productive, and therefore they occupied the lowest segment in society. To maintain order within this


hierarchy, the government periodically issued


regulating consumption of material goods,


restrictive laws (ken’yaku-rei) entertaining and clothing.


Tose at the lower end of the hierarchy – the craftsmen and merchants – were referred to as ‘townspeople’ (chonin), to whom Neil MacGregor refers. However, during the early 1700s Edo was one of the largest cities in the world and its merchant population, its townspeople,


grew increasingly


wealthy, with large disposable incomes, and consequent purchasing power.


Chinese boy holding a mask for a lion dance, Mikawachi kilns (Saga perfecture), 1800s, Japan. Courtesy Te Trustees of the British Museum


An ivory netsuke depicts two of


Te Seven Gods of Good Fortune (Shichifukujin) wrestling. Tese two, Daikoku and Hotei, are particularly associated with wealth and prosperity and held a prominent place in popular Buddhist worship among the rising merchant class from the middle of the Edo period. Te richest and most powerful merchants, who were often assiduous art patrons,


aspired to


emulate their ‘betters’ in the social pecking order through luxurious goods. But they were banned by the sumptuary laws from wearing richly embroidered fabrics,


restricted to


dark sombre colours with simple patterns. Instead, they spent their money on style accessories, particularly inro and netsuke ordered from named rather than anonymous specialist carvers. One of the most exquisite netsuke in the exhibition, carved in ivory as early as circa 1700, depicts a Chinese couple entwined while playing a flute together. Te Chinese Tang emperor Xuanzong


(685-762) sits on


Netsuke goldfish by Masano I of Ise, Japan, 1815-90. Courtesy Te Trustees of the British Museum


an


elaborately decorated throne with the wife of his son, who became his favourite concubine – Yang Guifei (719-756). But the story does not end


historical


dramas and exotic motifs inevitably influenced the development of netsuke,


though Japanese style idiosyncratic


character, which though sometimes appealing,


beautiful. Often they were caricatures – distorted,


was not corpulent,


squat,


necessarily ugly,


ferocious, demonic, tormented and in pain. A netsuke of a dancing Chinese boy holding a lion mask is charming, but his face is curiously distorted, his eyes uneven. In fact he looks as though he has a disease. Unusually, this


netsuke is made entirely porcelain fired in Kyushu, of the


southern island of Japan. Te area’s kilns have produced fine white porcelain for both domestic and foreign markets from the later part of the 17th century to the present day. Netsuke are carved from a variety of materials, but principally wood and ivory. Wood is traditionally the most extensively used, and since about seventy percent of Japan is forested, a wide variety of different kinds of trees is available, that diversity enriched by the varying climates from north to south of the islands. So historically


Chinese couple playing a flute, unsigned, Japan, circa1700. Courtesy Te Trustees of the British Museum


persimmon, bamboo, and Japanese cypress. As demand surged, some craftsmen of seals and plectrums for stringed instruments turned to creating netsuke, since they were skilled at working with ivory chopped from elephants. Masanao, one of the greatest netsuke sculptors carved an ivory rat sleeping contentedly with its paws clenched as if in the middle of a dream. He worked in Kyoto, which as the traditional capital and centre of the arts in Japan, was one of the most important centres of netsuke production, particularly of animals during the late 18th century. A man born in the year of the rat probably commissioned this ivory netsuke. It might also have served as a talisman for attracting prosperity, since rats are associated with Daikoku, one of Te Seven Gods of Good Fortune. Other favourite materials included stag antler, metal, lacquer and ceramic. Scintillating details often highlighted the netsuke such as coral, amber and tortoiseshell. A strange but exquisite little sculpture that at first glance looks like a sea horse, could be an imaginary creature. It is made of bone, with eyes inlaid in dark horn, and has a stunning coral inset embedded in its forehead, with a sacred implication of the ‘third-eye’ or urna.


As the author of the exhibition’s


catalogue, Noviko Tsuchiya, points out, ‘Since netsuke were often used in combination with inro, it is natural that lacquer netsuke were sometimes made by inro artists,


harmonious matching set.’ A single artist, Shibata Zeshin,


creating a created a


fabulous ensemble of matching inro, bead and netsuke in the late 1800s. Te four-case oval inro of lacquered wood covered in gold foil and mother-of-pearl is linked by a golden silk cord to its bead (ojime). Te inro features a Noh actor wearing a black mask, a black hat and a black and gold


kimono, celebrate while dancing to the rice harvest. Te


spectacular colour scheme of gold and black winds upwards via more golden cord to the crowning box- shaped netsuke depicting a plum branch and a writing brush lying on an open fan. Tese motifs allude to an outstanding cultural figure of the earlier Heian period (794-1185), one Suguwara no Michizane, who was widely worshipped as the patron of scholarship, often portrayed holding these items. Imagine the drama of this gold and black set created by the hira-makie technique.


‘flat sprinkled picture’


Diving into the prolific panorama of netsuke created during the Edo period, three different types emerge. Te majority are carvings in the round called Katabori. Tey range in size from a life-sized netsuke of a nut to the representation of an elephant in a sculpture less than three cm in size. Another type of netsuke is long and slender like the delicate sea-horse creature with coral eyes. Its bended head acted as a hook to prevent it slipping through the sash. Unlike so many craft genres whose makers are anonymous, netsuke were commissioned from credited, often


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