CHICAGO PIPE SHOW - May 2006
THE IMAGINATIVE
EVOLUTION OF HIROYUKI TOKOTOMI
Exhibit Page 3
THE EXHIBIT: Section by Section
2. Cavaliers
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the DUBLIN AND THE BLOWFISH Cavaliers |
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Blowfish Cavalier with
Bamboo Tokutomi’s first Cavalier pipes, made early in 2005, used bamboo for their shanks and feet. The idea of revisiting (and re-imagining) the Cavalier shape came to Toku initially at the Chicago Pipe Show in 2004 when, at the PipeRack table, he saw a Cavalier that he had made in 1999, based on an old design found in Pipe-Dan catalogues from the 1970’s:
I also suspect that Toku received further imaginative prodding from Kei Gotoh’s innovative mixture of bamboo and briar in his "Sio-Yaki." (See below.) One amazing feature of these Blowfish and Dublin Cavaliers is that in spite of the extreme curvatures of shank, bowl, and foot, both stand firmly on their Cumberland feet:
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Gotoh "Sio-Yaki" (Speared Fish) and Tokutomi: Dublin Cavalier Shortly after Kei Gotoh invented his breath-taking "Sio-Yaki" pipe, Tokutomi revisited the traditional Cavalier shape and created his first two bamboo-shanked variations. One had a blowfish bowl, the other a Dublin. When I look at the "Sio-Yaki" and the "Dub-Cav" side by side, the complex creative relationship between the two pipe-makers comes to my mind and I can’t help wondering about specific imaginative connections between the two pipes. (Though their styles are quite distinct, Toku and Kei admire each other and many of their pipes seem reflect influences flowing back and forth between them.) "Speared Fish" and the Dublin Cavalier re-imagine traditional shapes and push the technical boundaries of working with briar and bamboo. Is it possible that Gotoh’s bravura composition (an important milestone in his pipe-making) spurred Tokutomi to then demonstrate what he could do with the same elements? |
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Reclining (Dublin)
Cavalier
Tokutomi’s use of a Dublin bowl in a Cavalier reaches an altogether new level in this most fluid and flexible composition, which does not stand upright but which does fit perfectly in the hand. The color and graining strike me as among the most visually appealing Toku has yet achieved. |
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The Samurai Sword Motif After making a few Cavaliers with bamboo shanks, Tokutomi began to feel constrained by the materials he was using and took one of his characteristic imaginative leaps. The high quality ebonite used for mouthpieces normally comes in long rods, but some years ago, Toku started buying a small quantity of ebonite that had been shaped into broad, flat sheets. Turning to this rare material, Toku now saw within it the possibility for a dramatic new direction in his shaping of the Cavalier’s foot. Actually, the lines and shapes which came into Toku’s mind when he began working with the ebonite were not "new" at all, but hearkened back to traditional Japanese culture – in fact, to the thrusting yet supremely elegant curves of the Samurai sword.
This Blowfish Cavalier is one of the first to employ the "Samurai" foot. Soon, Toku allowed the Samurai lines to spread upwards into the stem as well. His Cavaliers began to exhibit a new kind of compositional energy: Toku could now add power and speed to his previous notes of fluidity and grace. |
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The Reverse-Curve Blowfish Cavalier During his visit with Todd Johnson in South Carolina in the fall of 2005 Tokutomi discussed his desire to reverse the curve of his Cavalier – and, in that sense, to return to the original lines of his Pipe-Dan variation of 1999. In one of his first pipes in this design, he juggled even more elements, by turning to a rare sheet of yellow acrylic for foot and mouthpiece. Part of his reason for doing this was to counterbalance the additional weight that seemed to come into his Blowfish Cavaliers when he reversed the curve. (The pipe’s foot enlarged and threatened to become lumbering: see the "Chanterelle" on Page 4 where Toku adds extra sweep to the Cavalier’s shank in order to counterbalance the thickness of the foot.) I find the bright colors and lithe lines of this pipe particularly attractive (as well as particularly "Japanese" in ways I can’t quite pin down yet). The photos below include pictures of the Volcano Cavalier which Tokutomi carved at the same time as his first Reverse-Curve pipes. (More on the Volcano follows.) |
THE VOLCANO CAVALIER |
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VOLCANIC ORIGINS The idea for a Volcano Cavalier was suggested to Toku by Todd Johnson, during a visit to the American’s South Carolina workshop in the fall of 2005. Todd sketched his ideas for Toku in considerable detail. |
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END OF EXHIBIT PAGE 3
