Ivory netsuke of a man wearing a wakizashi (short sword) on his left side and an inrô with his netsuke on his right side. His hairstyle is a chonmage and he is wearing a kimono with the lucky kanji kichi (吉) on the back.

In the feudal system that prevailed until the Edo period, the buke (武家) class corresponded to the warrior nobility. The man shown here belongs to this class and has the privilege of wearing the wakizashi, a highly regulated item. He may be a samurai in civilian clothes in a non-military context, such as inside a house, a ronin (samurai without a master) who keeps his chonmage headdress and is content with the wakizashi, or a low-ranking official who wears these attributes as a symbol of his authority and for his protection.

Japan – Edo period (1603-1868)

Height: 2.6 in / 7 cm – width: 1.2 in / 3 cm – depth: 1 in / 2.6 cm