Inro

Most sagemono were created for specialized contents, such as tobacco, pipes, writing brush and ink, but the type known as inro is suitable for carrying small things, and was created in the Sengoku period (1467–1615) as a portable identity seal and medicine container for travel.

Consisting of a stack of tiny, nested boxes, inro were most commonly used to carry medicine.

An ojime bead is provided on the cords between the inro and netsuke to hold the boxes together.

However, in 1985 lacquer craftsman Tatsuo Kitamura (北村辰夫) set up his own studio "Unryuan" (雲龍庵) and succeeded in recreating them.

[5][6][7][8] Nowadays, inro are rarely worn as kimono accessories, but there are collectors all over the world.