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, 04:48, 13 March 2017
[[File:Inro.jpg|right|thumb|400px|An ''[[inro|inrô]]'' (segmented box) on display at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. A small bead known as an ''ojime'' was used to pull the box closed; a ''netsuke'', seen on the right, would have sat on the top edge of the kimono belt (''obi''), and kept the entire thing from falling.]]
*''Japanese'': 根付 ''(netsuke)''
Netsuke are small toggles, made from a wide variety of materials, which were traditionally used to help hold ''[[inro|inrô]]'' or other small bags or boxes hung from one's belt. The string from which the ''inrô'' or bag hung was passed under the belt (''obi'') of one's kimono, and a netsuke was affixed above the belt, holding it from falling through.
As netsuke are quite small, and survive in great numbers, they quickly became in the [[Meiji period]] a particularly popular souvenir or collectors' item in the West, and around the world. Despite their somewhat niche origins among the vast array of traditional Japanese arts & crafts, netsuke today are among the most common objects to be found in both museums and private collections of Japanese art today.
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==References==
*Gallery labels, LACMA.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/32236717062/in/dateposted-public/]
[[Category:Art and Architecture]]