History: It’s not everyday that you long to hold a pouch of baby rats. But when they are Japanese netsuke, the urge to wrap your fingers around these ivory carvings may be irresistible. Netsuke ...

Joseph Kurstin’s first netsuke was inexpensive and unattractive. But after five decades, the piece is still part of his collection, which now numbers some 800 examples of the Japanese art form. The ...

Japanese carved figurines, called netsuke, weren’t just cool works of art — they served a practical purpose as wardrobe accessories. A well-dressed Japanese man prior to the twentieth century could ...

In the hands of Japanese netsuke carvers like Ryushi Komada, something quite mundane becomes sublime. From a simple block of wood emerges a delicate and expressive face, the sense of movement in the ...