Five Case Gold and Lacquer Inro with Netsuke, by Amanda Jones

Samurai wore these seal containers (inro) to carry medicines and seals with them everywhere they went. A carved toggle (netsuke) fastens the inro onto the belt of a kimono, creating a portable accessory that carries small items. The lacquerer decorated this inro with Mt. Fuji and a dragon, which were popular symbols among Japanese people in the eighteenth century. These symbols became so popular that many people today recognize Mt. Fuji and dragons as universal symbols of Japan, but premodern Japanese people regarded these symbols as much more. To the samurai that wore this inro, Mt. Fuji was a sacred mountain and the dragon a beneficent life-bringing creature of wonder.