An ebony netsuke of a stick of charcoalBy Wasui, Nagasaki, dated 1803
Carved in a realistic manner, a hole on one end with an inserted piece bearing inscriptions, forming the himotoshi; signed and dated Kyowa sannen i jugatsu toka gohyakurokujurokuban Kiyo Wasui saku (made by Wasui of Kiyo on the tenth day of the tenth month of the third, boar, year of Kyowa [1803], his 566th piece) and inscribed with a winter haiku. 4.9cm (1 7/8in).注脚黒檀彫根付　炭　銘 「享和三年亥十月十日五百六十六番崎陽和翠作」　1803年

Published:
Lazarnick, NIA, pp.1210-11.
Rokusho 20, p.73, no.107.
Earle, Huthart, p.330, no.303.

The poem reads in part: Yaizumi mo / sude ni . . . / sumisa kana
(Even this stick of / charcoal is already burnt . . . / that is how cold it is).