OKIMONO

An "okimono" is a small, carved ivory object created specifically for display. Typically "okimono" depict domestic scenes like family groups, farmers, fishermen, and children, or studies of birds, animals and flowers. Okimono were often presented in the "tokonoma", an interior alcove or recess in Japanese homes for the display of pictures or decorative art objects. During the Meiji period (1868-1912), many "okimono" were carved explicitly for export to the west.

NETSUKE

Netsuke emerged as a practical solution to dressing in 17th-century Japan. 'Men's kimonos didn't have sewn-up sleeves — they were completely open, front and back, and that meant that the sleeves couldn't be used as a pocket, as they could in women's kimonos,' Goodall explains.

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OTHER CARVINGS

To carry things suchas tobacco, medicine or other necessities, men hung stylish inro and other vessels from cords looped under and behind the wide sashes that held their kimonos in place. At the other end of those cords, men fastened small, ornamental objects as counterweights; those objects evolved into netsuke.