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. This example is in the form of a tea jar with an undulating lid.
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 on a boat wearing a straw raincape beneath a weeping willow tree. The reverse reveals an inscription in Chinese characters. Both are framed and surrounded by diaper patterns at the sides, top and bottom of the inro. The decoration is carried out in small, thin iridescent pieces of pearl-shell on a black or red lacquer ground.
Although the form and decoration of this inro are extremely unusual, there are at least two others of this type known to exist. All are thought to have been made in the Ryukyu Islands, probably in the 18th century.