NETSUKE is a Japanese traditional miniature sculptures used as a strap terminator. Many various things, ex. samurai, fisherman, child, cat, hare, monkey, phantoms and so on., have been chosen as subjects with a netsuke. The common size of Netsuke is less than 1 inch with micrometer-sized scrimshaws. Amazingly, many famous works known today was built during the Edo Period. Today, a lot of Netsuke lovers are all over the world not only in Japan.

This iPhone App is a collection of "Netsuke", and 52 pieces of famous Netsuke are introduced. The Netsuke in this App are mainly antique netsuke carved by famous artists in the mid Edo Piriod such as Masanao (Kyoto), Minko, Shuzan, Tomokazu, Toshimasa, Yoshinaga and so on.

In your first impression of viewing the screen shots, you may think that the objects are normal-sized antique, if you don't know a netsuke. Please remember the original size of netsuke. it is almost real scale that the size of netsuke in a screen of iPhone. All images can be extended 10 times with viewing a scale bar (cm, inch). You can know the micrometer-sized workmanship on the surface.

Since both English and Japanese are used parallel in this App, you can know Japanese captions such as title, artist's name, materials and creation period on the same panel.

Please try this App and enjoy the world of Netsuke!