In the 19th century, ukiyo-e wood block prints and ornamental toggles for pouches -- netsuke -- were greatly prized in the West. But to most Japanese, in the whirl of modernization, they were simply old-fashioned aspects of a fading way of life.
Countless curios were exported, and as Prince Takamado, a first cousin of the Emperor, said last week, many of the best are still abroad. Nevertheless, "it was only because netsuke and ukiyo-e found their second home outside Japan that they were saved and studied. If they had stayed in Japan, I think the majority would have been discarded or destroyed."
Prince Takamado, a noted netsuke collector, and honorary patron of the Asiatic Society of Japan, was giving an enthusiast's insight on these "treasured miniatures" to members at the first gathering of the year at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.