Netsuke of rats crawling on lion mask and drum

Inro and Netsuke

An inro (“seal casket”) is a small tiered container that would be suspended on a silk cord from the sash of a man’s kimono. A netsuke threaded onto this cord served as a toggle, and a movable bead would keep the inro closed. Inro were used to hold not only personal seals— which function in East Asian cultures in much the same way signatures do in the West—but also other small items such as medicines. Many inro are decorated using the Japanese lacquer technique called makie in which fine powder of gold or other metals is sprinkled on wet lacquer to create intricate pictorial motifs.