One of my favorite Hanayamas of the ~10 or so I've tried. The solution is elegant and unlikely to be found merely by random fiddling, yet it's an extremely fluid and beautiful movement once you find it. As for the forcing mentioned by others, I believe that a key step in the puzzle can be performed in two slightly different configurations, only one of which requires a force. I solved it with the forced version the first time, but upon further study I found what I believe to be the correct solution, which is perfectly smooth. I would peg this one at the top of the Level 4 range for difficulty. Outstanding and beautiful puzzle!

I also need a bit of force at one point, almost everytime i'm trying that step; thus only four stars. I found easier solution for the last step than the one in hanayama provided solution.

Great puzzle! Probably the hardest of the 8's. It took me about 25 minutes, but people's minds work differently.Very smooth and fluid movement. Highly recommended.

Just like the Baroq, a true Akio Yamamoto masterpiece. It's way harder (IMO it should be 6/6 on Hanayama scale) but it has the same smooth, organic flow and looks. It's a very tough puzzle (physically), so it's impossible to break it during normal play. I have, however, experienced several cases when it was forced into a position that seemed a total lockdown (no further movements available). Luckily, I've managed to reset it every time. As the others mentioned, I too have an issue at one place, where it requires deadly precise moves or it needs to be forced.

It's actually quite cool, the only gripe about this, the thing is much more difficult to put back in the proper state. I got it solved fairly quickly, but it took 3x more time to actually put it back together properly. I don't know how, but I finally managed to do it with enough of monkeying around. It certainly looks good on the shelf, kind of a mysterious shape.

A wonderful and beautiful puzzle, however, there is more then one solution, I found the wrong one (the one not supplied). For even more fun, try to find the way to remove one piece before the other.

If you like Baroq then do yourself a favor and get this beautiful sculpture. A tough solve. Magical!

This puzzle is really nice looking, but like JohnnyZ I also found that it required a bit of force at one point. This detracted from the puzzle more than it did for Baroq.

A masterpiece of almost organic design. It is also quite difficult to solve. I had difficulty visualizing how it could even come apart.

This one should be rated at least to level 9. Really beautiful piece. And movement is unbelievable......

This puzzle was great! It was like the Baroq puzzle, but a bit harder. Also like Baroq puzzle there is a time where I feel like I had to force the puzzle, but I might not have had the pieces in the perfect angle or something...