(VNF) - The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam in cooperation with Embassy of Japan in Vietnam held a travelling exhibition entitled “Contemporary Wood-Carved Netsuke” from January 24^th in Hanoi.

Agenda of the event. (Photo provided by the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam)

The exhibition is an innovative contemporary crafts exhibition presenting 65 works by contemporary netsuke carvers and artists in celebration of the 45^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam in 2018.

Netsuke are small handicraft objects whose production flourished in the Edo period (1603-1868). During that period, the culture of what is now thought of as Japanese clothing blossomed. It was customary to carry inro -(medicine containers), tobacco pouches, money pouches, and other items by suspending them by cords from the obi (a sash worn with kimono).

Netsuke served as toggles, attached to the ends of those cords and slipped beneath the obi, to keep the items suspended on it in place. Initially, they were simply functional, undecorated items made of small gourds or round slices of ivory. In time, they evolved into elaborately worked miniature craft objects, and magnificent netsuke of great artistic value with a variety of subjects were created.

These practical objects were created by and for the common people and greatly enjoyed by them. As Western clothing was adopted from the Meiji period (1868-1911) on, however, netsuke disappeared from daily life in Japan. Meanwhile, with the interest in Japonisme in Europe and America in the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, netsuke came to be exported in large numbers and were highly regarded as art or craft objects in other countries. In Japan, meanwhile, some netsuke enthusiasts and carvers managed to keep the tradition alive.

Since the 1970s, a new genre, contemporary netsuke, has taken shape, inspired by new sensibilities and ideas. Today, contemporary netsuke carvers continue to ply their craft, steadily producing to new works.

This exhibition focuses on contemporary netsuke. Visitors will explore the subtle and highly artistic skills, and playfulness, embodied in netsuke and consider the practicality and charm of netsuke today, when they are not longer part of everyday life. The netsuke has been called a tactile craft. “Nare” in Japanese, and perhaps “patina” in English, changes that arise over time from actually touching them, is regarded as a distinctive resonance that makes netsuke rich and vital.

A netsuke “Auspicious Sign” of Motomasa Kurita. (Photo provided by the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam)

To communicate the essence of the netsuke, this exhibition thus also includes works that visitors can actually pick up and hold the palms of their own hands. It is organisers’ hope that you will experience the warmth characteristic of natural wood and the beauty lodged in netsuke with the passage of time.

This exhibition is designed so that people, regardless of time or place, can savor tactile encounters with others and think of them through these works. As it tours, the organisers hope that netsuke will take on a new practical role as a ”toggle”, connecting Japan and the world.

The event will held at exhibition halls of the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam (27 Quang Trung Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi) until March 15^th with no closed days except Vietnamese Tet holidays./.

VNF