One hunter has taken aim at a running deer - another is about to spear a rabbit. On the other side, one of the hunters must have been an important shogun or daimyo as there is a mounted attendant shading him with a tall and wide umbrella. There are even a couple of dogs running alongside and in front of the group.

In the background on one side you can see Mt. Fuji in the distance with some stylized clouds in the sky. A man appears to be scaling the mountain - although that would be an impossible perspective to be seen at that distance. The hunters and horses are all enhanced with areas of makie lacquer – and in the sky there are patches of nashiji (pear skin) gold – possibly representing the dust of the hunt. The inro is in excellent condition with only a couple of tiny chips between the top and second compartment. The patina is very fine with some rubbing to the gold highlights on the uniforms where the inro would have rubbed against the men's garments. The compartments are done with nashiji decoration. We have found the top two compartments difficult to pull apart so have not tried to force that. There is a glass or marble ojime with shades of light orange – neither netsuke nor signature accompanies the inro. An excellent example of an early finely decorated inro. We date it to the late 18th to early 19th century, Edo period.