Netsuke are small toggles or buckles carved from wood or ivory. The Japanese in the seventeenth century used them to fasten pouches to their kimono belt, since kimonos had no pockets. This lavishly illustrated book takes the reader on an exciting tour of one type of netsuke—those carved to look like the masks used by stage actors.

Long-time collector Harriet Szechenyi concentrated on collecting netsuke of animals and celestial beings. A considerable part of the collection consists of so-called shishi (lion dogs). These beautiful miniature art objects have been described at length by Rosemary Bandini. beautiful Japanese art form. The appendix contains pictures of the signatures found on the netsuke, a very useful guide to the collector.