Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A small toggle, often in the form of carved ivory or wood figure, used to secure a purse or container suspended on a cord from the sash of a kimono.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A small knob or button, of horn, wood, ivory, or other material, often elaborately carved or inlaid, lacquered, or decorated with enamel, used by the Japanese as a bob or toggle in connection with a cord for suspending a tobacco-pouch, inro, or similar article in the belt or girdle.
Wiktionary
- n. a small, often collectible, artistic carving characterized by an opening or two small holes (紐通し (himotōshi)), most commonly made of wood or ivory, used as a fob at the end of a cord attached to a suspended pouch containing pens, medicines, or tobacco. Netsuke originated in feudal Japan in the late 16th and 17th centuries.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. In Japanese costume and decorative art, a small object carved in wood, ivory, bone, or horn, or wrought in metal, and pierced with holes for cords by which it is connected, for convenience, with the inro, the smoking pouch (tabako-ire), and similar objects carried in the girdle. It is now much used on purses sold in Europe and America.
Etymologies
- Japanese. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Seen here, a "frustrated rat catcher" netsuke from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Link”
“A netsuke is a "small, tough explosion of exactitude".”
The Guardian: The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund de Waal
“Of the first kind are the beautiful bronze figures of the Buddha, like the Kamakura Buddha, fifty feet high and ninety-seven feet round, in whose face all that is grand and noble lies sleeping, the living representation of Nirvana; and of the second, those odd little ornaments known as netsuke, comical carvings for the most part, grotesque figures of men and monkeys, saints and sinners, gods and devils.”
“Jill Abramson, executive editor, was partial to "The Hare With Amber Eyes," by Edmund de Waal (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), a descendant of a European banking family whose vast wealth was eventually whittled down to 264 small wood and ivory carvings (known as netsuke).”
“Neither his business career nor his philanthropic work defined Floyd Segel, however, since he was an avid and wide-ranging collector who built world-class collections of jade, "netsuke" (miniature Japanese sculpture), Chinese porcelain,”
“Neither his business career nor his philanthropic work defined Floyd Segel, however, since he was an avid and wide-ranging collector, who built world-class collections of jade, "netsuke”
“Charles bought the netsuke during the craze for Japonisme.”
The Guardian: The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund de Waal
“Afterwards, they examined the netsuke, one by one.”
The Guardian: The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund de Waal
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘netsuke’.
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The Japanese art of...
Words with definitions beginning with "The Japanese art of..." (or equivalent).
origami, kirigami, furoshiki, ikebana, makimono, ukiyo-e, netsuke, chindōgu, bonsai, naginatajutsu, butoh, Buyō and 30 more...
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fasten-ating
a reflection on the Indo-European root pag & pak to fasten
peace, pay, patio, fay, fang, impact, pax, newfangled, pagan, peasant, pectin, spinto and 58 more...
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ktrey's wordlist
Words that I like.
Many may be lexicographically impotent due to a lack of citations and definition. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this eventually.velleity, dispositive, bloviate, bibulous, fungible, concupiscence, avuncular, carnaptious, thrawn, hypocoristic, diegesis, lagniappe and 928 more...
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msc's Words
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Single-word names of colors.
bisque, chartreuse, cornsilk, gainsboro, roseate, verdigris, carmine, dahlia, vermilion, puce, cinereal, muslin and 41 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for netsuke.
Wordplayer NetsUKE Dec 13, 2010