Netsuke Japanese Life and Legend in Miniature introduces you to the legends, stories, and people who contribute to Japan’s exceptionally rich artistic legacy. Netsuke have been made from practically every possible material. As previously stated, materials such as roots, stones, and sea shells have been used successfully. In those, the only “creative” component was to pick something appealing and wrap the cord around it. Some netsuke are produced with lacquer, which is a process of building up the shape with multiple applications of lacquer paint. Ceramics are another type of material used.
Japanese Life and Legend in Netsuke miniature introduces you to the legends
The figure is molded in clay and then baked in a kiln to harden. Subsequent firings with glazes can be used to add color to the netsuke. Metalworkers developed a large number of netsuke. Some are totally made of metal, while others employ metalwork as an accent, such as the spider perched on the wooden mushrooms.
The majority were constructed through carving. What wonderful carvings they are! It is acceptable to assume that no suitable material has not been carved to produce netsuke. Although ivory and boxwood have long been popular materials, mammoth tusk and pine have also been employed. In reality, many netsuke incorporate more than one material. Some include the extra material naturally, such as an ebony figure of a South Seas diver grasping a real piece of coral. Horn is a popular second material, and it is commonly inset to give the eyes a translucent light that adds to the carving’s lively appearance.
With many countries obeying the ivory trade restriction, netsuke carvers have started looking for new or different materials to work with. They’ve been looking for a material that is as strong as ivory and can maintain the clarity of detail in the carvings that ivory is known for. In order to find a material acceptable to conservationists, synthetic materials have been employed in trials. Fortunately, collectors of great netsuke are interested in the art form, not just the ivory sculptures. As a result, netsuke carvers now work with a wider range of materials.
New materials for netsuke carving include mammoth tusk and hippopotamus teeth. Other materials include pink ivory wood from New Zealand, mountain mahogany from the United States, and preserved walrus tusks. These natural materials, and many more, now give a more diverse palette from which the netsuke carver can produce a specific impression. The skilled carver will always chose to express his thoughts, spirit, and designs through the rich, compelling beauty of natural materials.
Contrary to initial fears that the ivory embargo would end netsuke carving, it has instilled new enthusiasm in the carvers as they learn to work with and master the range of materials available to them today. As a result, the netsuke collector now has a wider selection of lovely artifacts to pick from.
Bishu is the president of the International Netsuke Carvers Association, and he was influential in persuading members to modify the original name of the Japan Netsuke Carvers’ Association to represent international interest in netsuke and its carving. You could believe he’s a radical for encouraging non-Japanese to carve netsuke. However, as we discovered during our visit, he is a delightful and polite host who gladly answered all of our questions and posed for what must have looked like an infinite number of images.
Bishu is a fourth generation carver. His attachment to the traditions of ivory carving is profound. However, he is a contemporary artist, and his designs have an undeniable aspect that distinguishes them from the work of past generations of carvers. His grandpa began a carving workshop, which his father followed. However, rather than producing netsuke, Bishu elected to construct only one-of-a-kind netsuke and shut down the workshop.
Looking at his work, holding it, and experiencing the carver’s spirit being transmitted through a seemingly inanimate item is quite a revelation. He is a late-twentieth-century man, but his creativity appears to be rooted in an older civilization, one in which time was less important. Bishu’s netsuke date back to a time when brilliance of concept and execution were more significant than mass manufacture of low-cost things.
