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 example is decorated with distinctive scrolls in guri (‘bent ring’) lacquer. This is a form of carved lacquer, which involves superimposing layers of lacquer of different colours in a specific order. The surface is then carved with characteristic curved and spiral patterns with cuts that are U- or V-shape in cross-section. This clearly reveals the sequence of underlying colours. In this example, the craftsman has cleverly designed the inro so that each section is made up of a different surface colour.