Smooth Freehand (Hiro) (BN) with Briar Stand Tobacco Pipe

Having the honor of effectively introducing the art of Hiroyuki Tokutomi to the US in the early 2000's, and being the sole US representative for his work since that introduction, it's safe to say that our interest and observation of this living legend has been a bit more than casual. Being an individual who purchased what I believe was the fifth Tokutomi that Smokingpipes.com offered (Sykes may correct me on this point), I too have watched his progress and aesthetic development with an enthusiasm that might make the most ardent Red Sox fan feel like a slacker. Much as the world used to believe that a successful summit of Everest was "impossible", so I viewed the extent my personal interest in Toku-san's work, almost by its very definition, a pinnacle is a pinnacle. Then along came Tokutomi's inheritance of Bo Nordh's legendary briar, as well as all of the considerations and implied obligations that were tied to this most legendary of materials. As anyone who knows the thoughtful Japanese master might have guessed, many of the shapes that he has created from the bequest briar have either been Danish inspired, or fusions of Denmark and Nihon. People's minds sometimes move in mysterious ways, and while I utterly understood and appreciated Toku-san's initial homage to the late Danish legend, part of me couldn't shake the idea (just an idea now) that Bo selected Tokutomi as one of the three recipients because of the utter freshness, brilliance and audacity of the man's never-before-seen compositions. Part of me kept repeating a rather selfish mantra; "Let it rip, let it rip, let it rip."

With this composition, only the second Hiro Grade that Master Tokutomi has created with the Nordh briar, he didn't just rip the metaphorical veil, he yanked it off the ceiling. Large, and as staggering in concept and execution as the Tokutomi shaping aesthetic is apart from any on the globe, this bold Hiro Grade is an unabashed, no-holds-barred embodiment of the three dimensional art philosophy that has made Hiroyuki Tokutomi one of the most highly sought carvers that has ever drawn breath. Created in its entirety from BN briar, even the semi-architectural form of the stand hints of impermanence in the trail off on the aft. A view of the mount shows a form that starts with hints of the familiar "me" (eye) on the bottom, with the top closing in a manner that suggests a triple bevel is in the making. Upon moving upward, we see the implication was a feint, with the true underside element being a daisho inspired blade that compels the eye along a gorgeous interior line and on to a bowl of dauntingly beautiful shape. Through a veritable milky-way of birdseye and the sense of impermanence that only a poignantly placed plateau can achieve, Tokutomi forms a "tear" rim, using implied space to allow the mind to complete that which is completed on another plane, and the abrupt drop used to suggest a gate holds a vertical grain that is as amazing as the previously mentioned birdseye. To catalog the myriad of thought provoking touches and details that Tokutomi created within this masterpiece would be a literary undertaking in and of itself. Then again, like most anything worth appreciating in life, the simplest and best way of understanding beauty is to hold it.

--Bear Graves