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Lastly, illustrations sometimes show lower classes at work, carrying a coil of smoldering, slow burning  'rope' to light a kiseru when time allowed.  

'''The netsuke.''' The netsuke (the 'u' is silent) was the toggle of the smoking ensemble (and other sagemono) that kept it from slipping loose from the obi.  While it’s origin was likely well before the 16th century as a simple utilitarian device by the 18th and 19th centuries netsuke,  even in common forms, were true miniature sculptures, and in the hands of a number of great Japanese carvers (netsuke-shi) perhaps the finest miniature sculptures the world has ever seen. And in all events a fine netsuke would have been a very important part of any quality  sage tabako-ire ensemble.  Netsuke are primarily collected today quite independent of other Japanese tobacciana, indeed a netsuke collector would be apt say that considering a netsuke part of a tobacciana collection is akin to considering a finely cut diamond part of a rock collection.  On the other hand just as kiseru and kanagu are often collected today by afficiandos of Japanese metal work, tsutsu and tonkotsu are often collected today by netsuke collectors because of the quality and similarity of decoration. There are many types of netsuke, made out most every material imaginable, but a few types are particularly associated with pipe smoking.  

A tonkotsu, the hard sided tobacco case,  might typically be anchored by a netsuke of any type, including of the most popular three dimensional sculpted katabori style.

'''A Final Thought:''' In 18th and 19th century Japan five elements coincided to leave us today with some of the worlds finest craftsmanship and artwork in a very peculiar form:  a richening economy; a population that universally smoked pipes; a rising merchant class with only limited alternatives to publicly demonstrate their wealth; and a remarkable group of artisans, some of whom were ultimately forced to turn to smoking articles when traditional work was denied them.  These element converged to make pipes and pipe smoking accessories in pre-20th century Japan one of the most important ways for both men and women to enjoy and express their status, wealth and individuality both in the home and in public.  Consequently we have left to us today perhaps the most remarkable and finest of pipes and pipe accessories to have ever been crafted.  Equally remarkable, as popular as the kiseru was in the 18th and 19th century, with the coming of the 20th century the cigarette culture rapidly replaced that of the kiseru.  Today it is said that many, perhaps most Japanese have no idea of kiseru but for occasional use in traditional theatrical and television drama and while one can see obvious adaptations of tabako-bon and tabako-ire to a world of cigarettes it may well be only the western collectors who recognize the derivation.