Sunday, August 8, 2010

Essential Information About Japanese Style Tattoos

By Takamitsu Hairi

The emergence of the art of tattooing in Japan is closely linked with the rise in the power of the working classes and common people in Japan. This happened towards the second half of 18th century during the Edo period.

The Japanese derived the tattoo designs they made within those years from traditional Japanese watercolor paintings, picture books and woodcuts. Those having their bodies tattooed felt intensive pain and the final result was an attractive piece of art that would last permanently on their bodies. The Japanese art of making tattoos is very successful and you will find many people in these present times using it.

With the degeneration of the feudal system nearing the end of the Edo period arose the average people with their own culture. This class of commoners shunned the traditional code of ethics and morality and began to go for anything that they felt was right. Tattoo art thus served as an avenue of cultural expression for this new class of people.

In the initial years tattoos based on folklores gained currency with the Japanese people. Commonly traditional Japanese tattoo art would feature images of dragons, Chinese lions, giant snakes and other numerous religious figures. The images of Buddha, the god of fire, the gods of lightening and wind were common. The tattoo artists would make use of sharp needles by which they would insert charcoal ink under the layer of skin.

In those years, woodblock artists swapped the short blades that they used to curve wood, for long needles and started performing tattoo art. Tattoo art later progressed into a specialized field as the years passed and there were artists who specifically dealt with making tattoos. The name horimino is the traditional name that refers to tattoo art in the Japanese language and they used it to refer to the method of art that came to exist as a result of this process.

The earliest traces of meetings of tattoo enthusiasts date back to 1830. Tattoo expositions are a common sight today in the West but Japan had been hosting these conventions more than a century and a half ago. This attests to the long and wealthy history that the Japanese art of tattooing has.

Presently you will be able to find the collection of tattoo designs that were popular during the Edo, Shohwa and Meiji eras in Japan. The acclaimed book called the Bunshin Hyakushi which was put together in 1936 consists of the vast amount of tattoo designs of the past. Another important book that displays the traditional tattoos of Japan is One Hundred Tattoo Figures and Stories.

The book spans the life and works of some of the most well renowned Japanese tattoo artists of the Edo period. This was a time when the tattoo craze was really taking over the day to day reality of the Japanese people.

The perceptions of the people of Japan related with tattoo art have changed with the progressing of time. When the art started, they did not think of it as a noble practice, but rather an art that had additional negative things associated with it. However, the people of many countries throughout the world now believe tattoos fashionable. The only people who still seem as though they have negative ideas about this art are the conservative families of Japan.

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