Ikebana (Tsuge)

Ikebana is the name given to the hand-worked top line of Japanese manufacturer Tsuge Pipe Co. The name is taken from the Japanese art of flower arranging; the word carries the meaning "to give life to flowers," and this art is also known in Japanese as kadō, or "the way of flowers." The line is kept separate from the company's molded production: within Tsuge, the Ikebana stamp is reserved for pipes finished by hand from start to finish.

A Separate Branch Within the Company

Tsuge Pipe Company Limited was founded in Tokyo in 1936 by Kyoichiro Tsuge, who came up through the craft of ivory cigarette-holder making; the workshop is based in Asakusa, a district known for its craft shops. When ivory became unobtainable during the war years, production shifted to cherry wood, and when imported material became accessible again in the 1950s, to briar. In the 1970s a decision was made to move toward higher-value pipes, and six makers were sent out to see workshops in Italy and Denmark. The Ikebana line is the product of that turn: a handcraft branch that stands under the same roof as the factory production but is kept separate from it.