Raymond Bushell 
Introduction to Netsuke 

With dozens of photos and illustrations, A Introduction to Netsuke is a readable and thorough guide to Japanese miniature art.


Among the many Japanese fine arts, few have aroused greater admiration than the netsuke. This miniature piece of Japanese sculpture, approximately 1 1/2 inches in size, was designed (in the absence of pockets on kimonos) as an aid in suspending articles such as tobacco pouches from the sash of a kimono. It developed in ancient times as a utilitarian object, but became in the 16th century an artistic one as well, and flourished as such until 1926. No longer commonly worn, the netsuke is now a collectors’ item, avidly sought throughout the world by those sensitive to its fine qualities.


This book opens the miniature world of netsuke to those who have hitherto been unaware of its existence. In a delightfully lucid manner, the basics of the netsuke are presented-definition, origin, development, materials, statistics, and photographs. This book admirably fulfills its task of introducing the netsuke to the layman, irresistibly drawing him to new pleasures in aestheticism and culture.

About the author

Raymond Bushell, the author, first arrived in Japan in 1945 and has practiced law in Tokyo since 1949. He has long been a connoisseur and collector of netsuke. Besides having adapted into English the now standard
Netsuke Handbook of Ueda Reikichi, he has written the little masterpiece
Wonderful World of Netsuke and
The Collector’s Netsuke.