Ichige Tokurin signed his blades with the province at the head of a long inscription and his common name Genzaemon set into it, as on the Suifu Ichige Genzaemon Tokurin , and the published sources read his life as plainly as those signatures. Born in An'ei 6, in 1777, he was a retainer of the Mito domain who first trained under the domain smith Kume Naganori, then went to Osaka and entered the school of Ozaki Suketaka. In Bunka 6, at thirty-three, he was made the retained smith of the Mito domain; in Tenpo 1 he received the title Omi-no-; and he died in Tenpo 6, in 1835. The published sources describe two manners in his work: the that follows his teacher's approach, and a straight-temper style akin to that of the Osaka smith Shinkai. In both, they write, the is bright and clear and the work is skilled.
The toran is the manner the published sources call the one he most favored and best commanded. It is a large that crests in regular swells, built over a well packed and clear. The temper often begins with a straight at the before the wave pattern opens above it. Long enter the crests, the runs deep, lie thickly through the line, plays across it, and the stands bright and clear. The published sources judge his success here by control. Of his finest they observe that the wave forms are tempered in order without breaking down, and that the particles of are even and well matched, lying without unevenness. Of one they write that the toran workmanship was something the bakumatsu smiths attempted in numbers, 「濤瀾乱れの作柄は、幕末期の刀工が挙って試みているが、中でも徳鄰は抜群」, Tokurin standing out among them.
The beneath both manners is the same refined steel. It is a that packs tightly, at times with and flowing grain mixed in. The is applied fine and at times dust-fine and thick, fine enter well, and the steel is clear. On his best pieces the published sources call this forging a degree above the rest. The is read with the same vocabulary in either manner: deep , thickly applied , fine and , and the bright, clear that recurs as the point of his work. On all but one of his blades the runs straight to a small , at times turning back a little deeply with the tip lightly brushed. Most of his blades are and , somewhat broad, the thick, with a tendency to and an extended . The exception is a with and a thick .
The second manner is a Shinkai-style . It is a or wide , at times a -toned base shallowly undulating, with , and long entering it. The published sources call it 「同作としては比較的珍らしい真改風の作域」, comparatively rare among his work, and prize it for that. On these pieces the is applied a degree thicker and the more uniform, and the bright, clear is again the point singled out. Two dated blades recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection belong to this manner. A of Bunka 11 (1814), signed Mito Hachiman-ju, has a shallowly undulating with deep over a well-packed , the clear; a of Bunsei 4 (1821), signed Suifu-ju, is tempered in a wide with entering well, and its , the single exception in his record, ends in an . The entry calls both well made and the 「特に優れている」, especially fine. His signatures are themselves a dating key. Up to about the Bunka era he cut Mito-ju (水戸住), and from about the Bunsei era Suifu-ju (水府住). On that basis the published sources place one undated after the start of Bunsei, and, from the likeness of its signature to a Bunsei 2 piece, perhaps in that very year.
The dated piece against which that is measured survives. It is a small dated the second month of Bunsei 2, its well packed with fine , tempered in a large that rises from a short straight , thick entering and the and both bright and clear. The published sources call it an outstanding piece among his works. Its signature departs from his usual practice: five characters on the , the name Ichige Tokurin with no province or common name, and the date on the . Of a the published sources write that 「この作は、彼の典型といえるもの」, typical of him and outstanding in workmanship, and on one they find 「彼の本領が遺憾無く発揮されている」. His standing rests on this control. His crests hold their shape and his lie uniform, and the refined shows that his skill did not rest on a single manner.
Apart from the two blades in Honma's inventory, both presented to the court by the governor of Ibaraki Prefecture, Tokurin's record is wholly of the tier. That inventory calls him 「水戸新々刀工中の白眉」, the finest of the Mito smiths. Nine of his blades are designated , all of them signed and on tangs. Eight carry a long signature, often with the province and his common name, and the ninth is the five-character Bunsei 2 . The published sources call several of them his finest or most representative work. He has no National Treasures, no Important Cultural Properties and no , and no museum or holding is recorded against his name. The Fujishiro appraisal places him at Jo-, and the Toko Taikan values his work at 380 points, the standing of a capable late- master of the Mito school. For a private collector his blades are not beyond reach in the way a name would be, but they come forward only rarely. A healthy signed and dated example, in the toran he made his own or in the rarer Shinkai-style , rewards patience, and the best of them show what the published sources call 「沸の粒が均一でよく揃ってむらなくつき」, whose particles are even and well matched.