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The Gō Seinosuke Netsuke Collection

  • Image of "Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Rabbit, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)"

    Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Rabbit, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

    Japanese Gallery (Honkan) Room 12
    November 2, 2022 (Wed) - January 22, 2023 (Sun)

    In 1942, the Japanese businessman and politician Gō Seinosuke (1865–1942) donated his collection of netsuke to Tokyo National Museum. Netsuke were used as toggles attached to cords for hanging small cases called inro and tobacco pouches from the waist. The custom of wearing them disappeared after the Meiji era (1868–1912), but netsuke continued to attract the attention of foreign art collectors. Concerned about how netsuke were being taken out of Japan, Gō Seinosuke spent over twenty-five years collecting high-quality pieces. This exhibition is a rare opportunity to view this fine collection in its entirety.

Major works in this exhibition

* Works listed below are in the TNM Collection unless otherwise indicated.

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Mythical Zhuyin Beast, By Unjutō Shumemaru, Edo period, 18th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Daoist Immortal and a Dragon, By Yoshimura Shūzan, Edo period, 18th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like the Demon Queller Zhong Kui, By Yoshimura Shūzan, Edo period, 18th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Clam, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Round Toggle (Netsuke) with a Chinese Beauty, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Rabbit and a Mortar, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Monkey with a Mask, Edo period, 18th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Shōjō, Meiji era, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like Lady Tokiwa, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like Dongfang Shuo Stealing the Peaches of Immortality, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Scene from the Noh Play Takasago, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Heart-Polishing Figure, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like Swordsmiths, Edo period, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Vendor from Ohara, Meiji era, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Toggle (Netsuke) Shaped Like a Scene from the Noh Play Takasago, Meiji era, 19th century (Gift of Mr. Gō Seinosuke)

Exhibitions