Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Netsuke \Net"su*ke\, n. [Jap.]
   In Japanese costume and decorative art, a small object carved
   in wood, ivory, bone, or horn, or wrought in metal, and
   pierced with holes for cords by which it is connected, for
   convenience, with the inro, the smoking pouch (tabako-ire),
   and similar objects carried in the girdle. It is now much
   used on purses sold in Europe and America.