Gotoh: Difference between revisions

The pipe making kit was given to him by a fellow member of the University bicycling club as thanks for a small kindness that Gotoh-san had done him. The friend, knowing Gotoh’s longtime love for woodwork and his love of pipe smoking, thought this an appropriate gift. Indeed it was! And what a path it has sent him down. Gotoh finally completed that first pipe some four months after he had begun with the kit, taking the same care with this first pipe that he would with all his future creations. A man of great patience and determination, Gotoh has a very deliberate approach to his work, resulting in a slow meticulous pipe carving process but yielding the most astonishing results.

The kit was one that [[Tsuge]] has sold in Japan for some decades now: it contained a pre-drilled block of briar with a pre-molded stem, various sand papers and files and a few different stains. So, at twenty, this friend and this kit set Gotoh-san down a path that would define the rest of his life and Tsuge would go on to play an even greater role in the development of this pipe carver.  

Gotoh continued to make pipes as an amateur for five years, while pursuing other interests. In 1981, he went to work for Tsuge, making the '''Ikebana''' line of pipes along with Fukuda-san, who makes all of the Ikebana pipes today. His skills became more and more refined. The exacting engineering standards of Tsuge had a great impact upon the young carver, who immediately recognized the importance of even the smallest engineering detail. He worked at Tsuge for two years making Ikebanas. Incidentally, Smio [[Satou]] was at Tsuge at the same time, though he did not work on the Ikebanas at that time. From 1983 to 1987, he worked as a subcontractor for Tsuge, making the Ikebana series pipes from his own workshop. Some of these pipes, in recognition of Gotoh’s extraordinary talents, were stamped both with the standard Tsuge Ikebana stamps and with ‘K. Gotoh’. During this period, because of Tsuge’s focus on replicating the high grade Danish style, Gotoh became imbued with that aesthetic vision. It became the foundation from which he would build, reinterpret and create the most interesting forms.

Gotoh is a truly gifted pipe maker. Interested deeply in both the mechanics and engineering of his pipes and their aesthetics, his pipes demonstrate brilliance in both realms. Whether it is an interesting new means of arranging a tenon/mortise to make a particularly unusual form possible, or the graceful brilliance of many of his shapes, Gotoh is unquestionably a master of his art and craft. The pipe community should be excited about this carver. We are fortunate that after so many years he has returned to his proper calling. ''Courtesy of [http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/gotoh/history.cfm smokingpipes.com]''

[[Category: Pipe makers by nationality]]

[[Category: Japan]]