Laughing Demon Mask LACMA M.91.250.5

Los Angeles County Museum of Art released at least 24,000 images into the public domain. The art objects in this collection are in this category. Today LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection that includes nearly 130,000 objects dating from antiquity to the present, encompassing the geographic world and nearly the entire history of art.

Traditional Japanese masks are mostly decorative and are available for sale at shrine festivals and events. Others are worn during certain Shinto dances or by actors performing a role on the stage. Most of these masks are archetypes borrowed from myth, ancient dances or Noh theater, and they have become some of the most popular Japanese masks that you’ll see today.

Traditionally, Japanese clothing – first the kosode and its later evolution, the kimono – did not have pockets. Though the sleeves of the kimono could be used to store small items, the men who wore kimono needed a larger and stronger container in which to store personal belongings, such as pipes, tobacco, money and seals, resulting in the development of containers known as sagemono, which were hung by cords from the robes' sashes (obi). These containers may have been pouches or small woven baskets, but the most popular were crafted boxes (inrō) held shut by ojime, sliding beads on cords. Whatever the form of the container, the fastener which secured the cord at the top of the sash was a carved, button-like toggle called a netsuke. Netsuke, like inrō and ojime, evolved over time from being strictly utilitarian into objects of great artistic merit and an expression of extraordinary craftsmanship. Netsuke production was most popular during the Edo period (1603–1867). Netsuke and inrō declined as Japanese clothes were gradually westernized from the Meiji period (1868–1912). Because of their popularity amongst Western collectors at the time, some of the greatest collections are now found outside of Japan. Today, the production of netsuke continues, and some modern netsuke can command high prices in the UK, Europe, the USA, Japan and elsewhere. Inexpensive yet faithful reproductions are available in museums and souvenir shops.