The surviving work of the inkan-shi (seal maker) offers tangible evidence for the evolution of netsuke art.
Inkan (or hanko) had been used for centuries before the emergence of netsuke as a means of authenticating documents. The skills required for miniature carving were therefore already well established and actively practised; they simply awaited the rise of a new form of art and a new market, netsuke.
Traditionally, an inkan was produced by two separate craftsmen: the handle-maker and the engraver. Both were respected within their communities, although the engraver may have been regarded more highly, closer in status to a fine calligrapher. In earlier times, seals were collected not necessarily for the quality of their handles, but for the elegance of the calligraphy engraved on their bases.
Inkan were thus produced, supplied to merchants, and sold to customers who may never have had them engraved. This helps to explain the many seals with undecorated bases. Moreover, many seals could also serve as perfectly functional netsuke, and so acquired a secondary purpose, even if this had not been intended at the time of their original conception.
When netsuke emerged during the Edo period, established seal makers would have recognised the demand for this new type of object and already possessed the technical skills necessary to supply it. In this respect, the transition from inkan-shi to netsuke-shi appears entirely organic.
Many important netsuke-shi were also, simultaneously, inkan-shi. One such example is Sanko, an artist recorded in the Soken Kisho of 1781, who used the same individual characters found on the base of this seal on other seals attributed to him.
This remarkable Japanese seal is executed in a traditional Chinese style, with a square base and a mount in the form of a Shishi leaping around a large peony blossom, its interior inlaid with bone. The detail and openwork achieved at such a diminutive scale are extraordinary. The seal has a distinctly regal character. Its base is inlaid with an ebony plate engraved with symbols of the Five Sacred Mountains, inked in red. The outer wall of the seal base is carved with the character 上 (ue or kami), meaning "up" "Summit" which may also have some relationship to the mountain engraving.
These mountain symbols are illustrated in the following works:
- Fang shi Mopu, vol. 5, late 16th century
- Cheng shi Moyuan, vol. 2, 1606
- Kokon Gaso, vol. 7, by So Shiseki (Katei), 1770
See also INSJ, Vol. 17, No. 1, Spring 1997: Heinz Kress, "Inro Motifs Part V," pp. 32-48.
