Japanese Tattoo Designs
Japanese tattoo designs date back to the late third century, AD, and was called by many names, including irezumi, or horimono. Irezumi literally means to insert ink under the skin. Since the early influences of Buddha and Confucius, the Japanese tattoo style has held negative meanings for most of the population. The average citizen today still consider Japanese tattoos as a mark of the yakusa or organized crime. The early settlers of Japan, the ainu, and the Chinese wa, (Chinese for Japanese neighbors) were known for tattooing their entire faces. This early Japanese tattoo design dates as far back as 1700 years, although they were never really accepted by the upper class. Find Thousands of Awesome Tattoo Designs Here The Endo period, (1603-1868) marked the beginning of the acceptance of tattoos as an art form. It was most popular among the ukieo, or floating world culture, and was chiefly comprised of prostitutes, (yujos) firemen, and the labor force. They wore full, or partial body tattoos to compliment their appearance, making them more attractive to their class.
In 1720, the emperor of Japan ordered tattoos as a form of punishment, placing a ring around the arm of the offender for each crime committed, or similar markings to the forehead. These visible tattoos created an easily identifiable class of outcasts, called ronin. This period was the beginning of the first gangs, (yakuza) that eventually evolved into the organized crime families of the 20th century, and continues today. This punishment was abolished in 1870 by the new Meiji government. In 1827, the ukiyo-e artist, Keniyoshe, first published the 108 Heroes of the Suikoden. They were a Robin hood-like group of bandits based on the classic 13th century novel, Shui-hi-chuan. Very popular among the townspeople, these images were considered cool, and were copied as tattoos,(iki) but were still restricted to the lower class citizenry. When the Menji government eased the ban on tattoos, and freely opened the art form to foreigners, it created a whole new industry catering to sailors from all ports, eventually spreading to the west. In 1948, all bans were completely lifted due to the resurgent demand created by the occupation forces, and their fascination with the horimono," and irezumi style of Japanese tattoo design.
These new Japanese tattoo designs typically cover only the upper arm, so they can be easily concealed to the general public. The Art of Irezumi The traditional Japanese tattoo design is very detailed, and requires an exceptionally skilled artist to ink, with much thought put into the design, and, the meaning behind the art. Usually covering a large portion, if not all of the body, this unique style of traditional design tells a story. Each individual drawing a piece of a larger puzzle meshing together in perfect harmony, and expanding year after year, sometimes never being fully completed.
The cost can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and is a commitment to a lifestyle, rather than the simple desire of having a tattoo or two. For this reason, the large, and very detailed Japanese tattoo design, is usually reserved for the hard core enthusiast. A much more popular, and feasible, tattoo choice is the Kanji style. Commonly called ideographic characters, or Japanese calligraphy, the meaning of each individual character represents a complete object. This style is easily designed to fit your own unique personality. Its sophisticated, yet unassuming, and might be the perfect accent you're searching for. When choosing this type of design, take extra care in researching the meaning behind the symbol, because this tattoo is commonly found on the biggest tattoo mistakes pages. As you can see Japanese tattoo designs cover a wide range of style and complexity and require some research and commitment on your part. I hope this was of some assistance in your search and thanks for visiting feminine tattoo designs at Angel Heart Tattoo. For a little more variety, check out Kanji tattoo designs.
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Although considered trendy by today's younger generation, Japanese tattoos
are still thought connected to gangsters, or the underworld, as is evident in today's scaled down version of
the classic design.
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