FriskyFritos

Yeah you have a point, I guess we’ll see. Still learning all of this and just to my eye it looks similar to some other pieces of his work, albeit aged a bit rough.

Woke up to a handful of replies here. Interesting insights. I’m not sure I would agree it lacks refinement but I get how the design looks a bit plain. Since I’ve been looking around for an Ikkin I’ve seen some mind blowing pieces and some relatively simple ones. Considering Ikkin’s son used the same kao it certainly makes it challenging to identify shoshin or gimei or just the son. Either way I took some photos of the nakago ana but with the quality limit they might be hard to discern any details.

Brian, I noticed the same thing but didn’t know what to make of it. It actually made me slightly nervous about the piece being gimei but the artistry fits his style so I figured I was pretty safe. Definitely a unique feature. Heck maybe the client brought it back and said, “Throw your John Hancock on there!” 😉 Cole

Oh nice catch! Thanks total typo Cole

Been in the Market for a Funada Ikkin Tsuba after finding out my Fuchi/Kashira set were his work. Luckily @Curran saw the listing and sent it my way. I couldn’t be more happy with it. It captures his very distinct style of work and even though the entire mei is a bit hard to read his kao is perfectly on display. It’s not papered but the workmanship and mei seem to really fit so I wasn’t too nervous about purchasing it. This is actually my first real purchase as well since the other pieces I simply inherited. Thanks to Curran for the assistance and hope you all like this fun new/first addition to my collection! Purchased from JPAuctions via Buyee on Jan 19, and just arrived today Feb 7. Overall positive experience with them. The actual packaging could have used a little work. It wasn’t very secure but since it’s iron it took the trip well. I would maybe be more concerned about more delicate pieces however. Thanks for looking, Cole

Are these still available? -Cole

Sadly no signature on the tsuba, but it’s very pretty. Doesn’t seem to be a matching set with the fuchi/kashira but that’s ok. From the story I was told the whole set was as is from the pile pop grabbed it from. He actually sliced his hand by accident as it slipped from the saya and he instinctually grabbed it and caught the blade. Had a scar on his palm from it till the day he died at 92. I used to make the joke that it was the swords revenge from being kidnapped

Curran, Awesome! I love networking. My grandpa’s old wakizashi just gave me the bug after I found out some more about it. Already browsing for something else to display with it! If you have any advice as to where to get the handle fixed up let me know! -Cole

Thanks again Ray!

First post here! I’ve inherited an old gimei wakizashi and been learning all I can about everything. Namely Funada Ikkin who I believe made the fuchi and kashira. From a couple different sources they are dated 1852. I haven’t been able to find too many examples of his work but I had a fun discussion with Ray Singer and he gave me some great insights and believes it is likely the shodai which was a fun discovery considering it seems like he has less known works. Well if I’m right here’s a couple more! This whole process has been fascinating, and any extra resources would be great to have! Also, I had a friend of mine who enjoys studying old kanji and he wasn’t able to decipher everything but said something about a father/son when reading the left side. And he knew nothing about the fact there were two generations of artist so I’d be curious if someone could shed some light on that as I’ve noticed the mei on the left differs from others I’ve seen with a couple extra characters. Thanks, Cole