The inro is a container made up of tiers. Japanese men used them because the traditional Japanese garment, the kimono, had no pockets. From the late 1500s onwards, Japanese men wore the inro suspended from their sash by a silk cord and a netsuke (toggle). They originally used it to hold their seal and ink or a supply of medicines. However, it rapidly became a costly fashion accessory of little or no practical use. Most inro are rectangular with gently curving sides.
Lacquer was most commonly used in the manufacture of inro since it was highly suitable for storing medicines. Lacquer is the sap from the tree Rhus verniciflua that grows mainly in East Asia. After processing, it is applied in many thin layers to a base material. The craft of lacquering, as well as making inro bodies, is highly complex, time-consuming and expensive. This inro is decorated with a man and a woman cleaning a house as part of the preparations for New Year, the most important festival in Japan. Such an inro would undoubtedly have been worn over the New Year festivities.
From the 1700s onwards, many artists signed the inro they made. This example is signed Kanshosai, who was the most prominent pupil of Iizuka Toyo and is normally considered to have been his successor. He worked at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries and was a fine and versatile craftsman.