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 object, such as this one in the form of a toy dog.

Netsuke were made from a large number of materials, most commonly wood or ivory. This example, however, is made from lacquer. Lacquer is the sap from the tree Rhus verniciflua, which grows mainly in East Asia. After processing, it is applied in many thin layers to a base material. The craft of lacquering is highly complex, time-consuming and expensive. Using traditional vegetable and mineral dyes, only five colours are possible with lacquer, such as the red and black used here. By adding metal powders, gold and silver could also be obtained.