Collecting Netsuke, Ojime And Inro!

A "netsuke" is a small Japanese carving that is attached to the cord of an Inro. They are usually very beautiful, hand-carved, examples of Japanese art.

While there are a lot of cheap examples that are made for the tourist trade, a serious collector must be willing to pay some very high prices for genuine examples of vintage nutsuke. Even beginning collectors can usually tell if a netsuke is a real, vintage piece or a cheap tourist piece after viewing a few of each.

An excerpt from Wikipedia:
Netsuke are miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th-century Japan to serve a practical function. Traditional Japanese garments-robes called kosode and kimono-had no pockets; however, men who wore them needed a place to store their personal belongings, such as pipes, tobacco, money, seals, or medicines.

Their solution was to place such objects in containers (called sagemono) hung by cords from the robes' sashes (obi). The containers may have been pouches or small woven baskets, but the most popular were beautifully crafted boxes (inro), which were held shut by ojimes, which were sliding beads on cords. Whatever the form of the container, the fastener that secured the cord at the top of the sash was a carved, button-like toggle called a netsuke.

Netsuke, like the inro and ojime, evolved over time from being strictly utilitarian into objects of great artistic merit and an expression of extraordinary craftsmanship. Such objects have a long history reflecting the important aspects of Japanese folklore and life. Netsuke production was most popular during the Edo period in Japan, around 1615-1868. Today, the art lives on, and some modern works can command high prices in the UK, Europe, the USA, Japan and elsewhere. Inexpensive yet faithful reproductions are available in museums and souvenir shops.

The Ojime is a small carved bead that fits on the cord between the netsuke and the inro. Again, the collector has to decide if he wants to collect original, vintage ojime or if he is willing to add the newer ones made for tourists to his collection also.

While the newer beads can be picked up fairly cheap, vintage ojime can be quite expensive. Many of these beads made for tourists, can be quite beautiful and intricate carvings. I have quite a few of the newer beads, myself.

Following is an excerpt on ojime beads from Wikipedia:
An inro is a traditional Japanese case for holding small objects. Because traditional Japanese garb lacked pockets, objects were often carried by hanging them from the obi, or sash. Most types of these sagemono were created for specialized contents, such as tobacco, pipes, writing brush and ink, but inro were suited for carrying anything small. Consisting of a stack of tiny, nested boxes, inro were most commonly used to carry identity seals and medicines. The stack of boxes is held together by a cord that runs through cord runners down one side, under the bottom, and up the opposite side. The ends of the cord are secured to a netsuke, a kind of toggle that is passed between the sash and pants and then hooked over the top of the sash to suspend the inro. A ojime is provided on the cord between the inro and netsuke to hold the boxes together. This is a bead with a hole through the center through which the cord is passed. It is slid down to the top of the inro to hold the stack together while the inro is worn, and slid up next to the netsuke when the boxes need to be unstacked to access their contents.

There's nothing more fun than a "garage sale" for the collector, and this one has over related items! Just click on this link to check them out:
Japanese Collectables Garage Sale!

All of these items are from people just like you and me who have a shop on Bonanzle. The link above only gives you the "Japanese related" items and their prices. Like a garage sale, if the shop owners happen to be on-line, you can dicker the price because each shop has it's own "chat board".

Who knows! You may enjoy checking out these items so much that you'll want to open your own shop. And why not! It's free!

Here's the link to My Bonanzle Store! and here's the link to Bonanzle's main search page:
Bonanzle Search!

These banners are links to some great and reliable stores so if you're shopping on-line, why not give them a try? Besides, I get a few cents commission anytime someone buys using one of these links! It doesn't cost you any extra and it helps me out, so thanks in advance!