The netsuke is a toggle. Japanese men used netsuke to suspend various pouches and containers from their sashes by a silk cord. Netsuke had to be small and not too heavy, yet bulky enough to do the job. They needed to be compact with no sharp protruding edges, yet also strong and hard-wearing. Above all, they had to have the means for attaching a cord. Netsuke were made in a variety of forms, the most widely appreciated being the katabori (shape carving), a three-dimensional carving, such as this one in the form of a clam shell.

The shell is further decorated with three famous views of Japan: the bay at Matsushima and the sandbar of Ama-no-Hashidate are carved in low relief on the shell’s exterior; Miyajima temple and its setting are carved in openwork and relief inside the shell. Although aspects of the natural world were commonly portrayed as netsuke subjects, netsuke in the form of a landscape are comparatively rare. This example features a particularly ingenious way of portraying not one, but three landscapes in one netsuke. Such imaginative work was typical of the late 18th and 19th centuries. It also reflects enormous skill by the carver.