Used to carry round things including pouches and inro when wearing pocketless men's kimono, netsuke helped prevent such items from falling: string attached to the pouches or inro was pulled under and over the the obi, and then the other end would be tied to the netsuke, which was too large to fall through the obi.
ポケットの無い男性用の和服で袋や印籠等を持ち歩く場合に、袋や印籠などに付けられた紐の他方の端に取付け、紐を帯の下に挟み、根付を帯の上方に出す事によって引っ掛って袋や印籠などが落ちないようにする目的で用いられた。