Netsuke

Once upon a time, when I had one of those Real Jobs, I used to attend various conferences around New York City. While wandering outside during the breaks (believe me, you needed to get away from the buzz of the microphone, the overload presentations, the PowerPoint presentations!), I would come across small shops that sold reproductions of netsuke. I was somewhat interested in Japan, especially Japan of Ran or Throne of Blood or Kwaidan (too many movies!) and various novels, so these fascinated me.

I never bought any, but was interested enough to buy a couple of books on the subject. Now I have noticed that BoingBoing links to a site showing representations of this folk art.

Hmmm...are gashapon the modern equivalent?