Black Lacquer Inro with Ivory Netsuke, by Margi Herberger
The artisan who crafted this inro was named Kajikawam which is a name representing a group of artists stationed mainly in the city of Edo in the nineteenth century, which is current day Tokyo. The inro pictured is signed by Kajikawa II. Kajikawa is considered to have been one of the higher quality artists.
The story this inro tries to convey needs a bit of breaking down. This is because instead of having a single thread to focus on, there are two. The first is the dragon on the inro itself. On the other side, there is a grill. The dragon is emerging from said grill. This is representative of “expecting the unexpected.” The second takes the netsuke into consideration. As stated previously, the netsuke is a carved tiger. This is very significant because dragons and tigers are depictions specific to Yin and Yang. Especially with male verses female and the natural world. Yin is associated with darkness, wind, water, and the earth, which encompasses feminine traits; including a more passive nature. Yang is associated with light, rain, fire, and the heavens, which encompasses masculine traits; including a more active nature. Dragons are seen as very powerful forces that can flatten whole forests, while tigers stand steady and strong against the force of the dragon’s wind.
Inro-netsukes are very strong objects. People believe that specific designs appease gods or ward against general negativity. It is these uses that inspire some scholars to consider inro to have originally had the function of amulets. Amulets are meant to hold a type of magic that affects the wearer and the world around them. These types of amulets range through items that are usually worn or carried in some way. However, it is argued that only some inro are amulets. This is because, as mentioned previously, not all inro have a spiritual significance to their depictions. The inro pictured above would be up for debate whether or not it would be considered an amulet because of the inro specific design of the dragon and grill. The argument could be made that it is because of the significance of the dragon paired with the tiger netsuke. However, like everything else, these objects have no obligation to mean anything.