Hiki Ikkan (飛来一閑)
Ikkan HIKI is one of the Senke jusshoku (Senke's ten designated craftsmen families) and the name is succeeded by the head of Ikkanbari saikushi (artisan of lacquered papier-mache) from generation to generation. Ikkan HIKI is the family of an artisan who started one of the lacquer craftworks, Ikkanbari (workmanship which is made of bamboo basket covered with Japanese paper painted persimmon juice) in Japan and also have delivered tea utensils such as Ikkanbari natsume (a container for powdered tea) and kogo (an incense container) to successive Senke families.
The family is now in the 16th generation, and the present head of the family is a woman, which is unusual for the Senke jusshoku and which joins the 12th Sotetsu NAKAMURA.
History
The HIKI family is a descendant of an exile from the Ming. The first Ikkan HIKI was from present-day Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, but Ching's invasion extended to the southern China, so he worried about his safety and exiled himself to Japan depending on Seigan Soi Osho (priest Seigan) of Daitoku-ji Temple around the Kanei era. In Japan, he was introduced to Sotan SEN with the Seigan Osho's help and started to receive orders for small articles crafted with Ikkanbari, which was one of his hobbies.
It was the third Ikkan who started the family business again and the fourth Ikkan became the craftsman patronized by Kakukakusai, the sixth grand master of Omote Sen-ke. However, all heads of the family from the sixth to eighth died early one after the other and they were in trouble even to maintain their family business. The ninth Ikkan worked hard for reviving their family business but had a great fire in his later years and died in hopelessness. The 10th Ikkan tried to restore their family with the style that followed the 1st Ikkan's style. The 11th Ikkan took over the 10th Ikkan's intention, and achieved mastery of the craft and his skills was called 'master' and said to be the reviver.
The 14th Ikkan lost two sons whom he brought up to be his successors by drafted and killed in the Pacific War. The 15th Ikkan, an adopted son-in-law, died before he achieved great success as a craftsman. His daughter, the 16th Ikkan, took over the business and is now running it with her husband.