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I managed to make a quick visit to LACMA to visit the netsuke room in the Japanese Pavilion, the day before their presentation of 18th & 19th century netsuke went down. I didn’t know that they even changed things out there before.

The netuske room at LACMA is possibly an ideal display solution for netsuke. The long cases allow the viewer to see both front and back, and the lighting is very controlled, allowing one to get an excellent view of these tiny objects. Being able to see the back of them gives you a constant reminder and instight into their functionality as objects, something that the front only display at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco doesn’t allow for.

I’ve become obsessed with netsuke. They are simultaneously useful everyday objects and seemingly purposeless pleasure objects. As I don’t wear kimono on any kind of regular basis, I’m largely ignorant of their life as useful objects. Through my martial arts related practices, I’ve come to realise that the nature of Japanese clothing provides novel opportunities for storing items, and that netsuke and inro probably fill in some of the gaps that are left.

What I really liked about the exhibition on view when I visited was that there were numerous examples of the same subject. It’s hard for me to fully understand just how everyday some of these objects and images are, especially given their relative complexity, but seeing the same subject multiple times has really further tickled my imagination about the narratives contained within netsuke as objects. I shot so many netsuke, that I’m going to visit some of them by subject. All of my photos from LACMA are in their Flickr set for your viewing pleasure.

Baku: Monster that Eats Nightmares

Damn. That’s one hell of a billing. Wikipedia provided the most thorough description of this benevolent spirit that I could find. What makes Baku so interesting is not just his interesting name and job, but the fact that this chimeric little beast has an elephant’s nose. Mythology is filled with cliches - men with horns, men with the lower bodies of animals, animal headed men, but with the notable exception of Ganesha, I can’t think of many mythological beasts that have elephant trunks. Even in the wide world of science fiction character design, I can’t think of many elephantine beasts.

It’s so easy to imagine a Baku sniffing around, finding nightmares with his vacuum cleaner nose and sucking them up. It seemed like such a weird beast and I was really surprised to see five different interpretations of Baku at LACMA. He must have been quite the popular little spirit.

above - Baku is on guard. The carving on this Baku is really tight and he has really expressive eyes. His trunk is held closely to his face.

above - I like to imagine that this Baku is making some kind of mighty elephantine roar. This piece was featured as a LACMA Artwork of the Month.

above - I think this Baku might be a seal, as well as a netsuke. The carving on this one is less precise, and conveys less motion and tension than the others.

above - This one is really tiny, but I like the sinuous nature of his pose. I like to imagine Baku as a sly creature.

above - A dude riding on Baku. I have no idea what the symbolism of this piece is supposed to convey