ТОП просматриваемых книг сайта:
Japanese Tattoos. Brian Ashcraft
Читать онлайн.Название Japanese Tattoos
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781462918591
Автор произведения Brian Ashcraft
Издательство Ingram
As the Japanese economy grew in the 1960s and 70s, and as urban homes became more luxurious, regular public bathing became less common. This also meant that tattoos were seen more rarely. Bathhouses and hot springs became more strict about who they would and would not let in.
These days, not all establishments have tattoo bans. There are hot springs and bathhouses that allow inked bathers (though they might ask you to cover your tattoo with a towel or even a special sticker). Some that technically don’t allow them might turn a blind eye, especially for international visitors. Don’t expect that, though: In 2013, for example, one Hokkaido hot springs denied entry to a New Zealand woman with traditional Maori facial tattoos. The incident made international news.
This warning sign was posted at a pachinko parlor entrance. Note that it uses the irezumi kanji (入れ墨) that refers to punishment tattoos.
Inked Royals
Blood Blue, Black Ink
During the late 19th century, tattoos became a fad among European royalty. For bluebloods, permanent ink was the ultimate souvenir of an exotic voyage.
The British king Edward VII helped to kick off this trend after getting a Crusaders’ cross tattooed on his forearm in Jerusalem. As a boy, Edward wore naval-inspired playsuits and popularized sailor clothes among the Europeans, which later spread to Japan. That Edward was quite the trendsetter!
His sons, Prince Albert Victor and the future King George V, both got dragon tattoos while visiting Japan in 1881. The last Russian Tsar, the future Nicholas II, also got a dragon tattooed on his arm while visiting Japan in 1891. During that trip, there was an attempt on his life. He survived, but didn’t make it through the Bolshevik Revolution.
Regal tattoo enthusiasts like Nicholas II were irezumi’s earliest ambassadors.
THE RISE OF ONE-POINT TATTOOS
One-point designs are popular today in Japan, especially among people who want some ink but don’t want to make the commitment that bodysuits or large back pieces require. In Japan, one-point designs traditionally have been a way to distinguish Western-style tattoos from the irezumi house style. Many tattooers in Japan are equally fluent in both, and can do big pieces surrounded by gakubori (see page 136) and isolated one-point tattoos. This flexibility ensures steady work, but it’s hardly a new phenomenon.
During the 19th century, Japanese tattooers began modifying their designs to appeal to foreign customers. Most tattoo tourists got isolated one-point tattoos depicting things like samurai or geisha. In comparison, the full bodysuits, with their intricate designs and elaborate backgrounds, must have looked like artistic marvels to foreigners. No wonder they influenced a generation of talented Western tattooers like Sutherland MacDonald and George Burchett.
Few visiting Japan, however, completely covered themselves in ink. The reason was convenience: Most simply didn’t have the time and wanted something that could be done quickly. There were exceptions, though. Over the course of several months in 1872, Charles Longfellow, son of the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, got several years’ worth of irezumi, including an image of Kannon (page 89) on his chest and a koi fish (page 73) ascending a waterfall on his back. Because so much work was jammed into a short period of time, Longfellow didn’t have the time to recoup between sessions, so he got morphine injections to make it through.
In the West, the popular 19th-century notion of tattooing was based more on stereotypes than in reality.
Japanese motifs such as this swimming goldfish also make wonderful stand-alone designs.
In traditional American tattooing, skulls and roses are often paired. Here, waves and peonies replace the roses, underscoring the life-and-death theme and giving the tattoo a decidedly Japanese feel.
During 20th century, one-point tattoos were the dominant style in the West, while large interwoven designs were the most common in Japan. But by the early 1980s, something funny was happening: a new generation of Japanese born after World War II who were into American and British culture wanted foreign-looking one-point tattoos. Around that time, American tattooer Don Ed Hardy inked Western-style designs on the members of the Black Cats, a popular Japanese rockabilly band. Just like that, a clear division between the words “tattoo” and “irezumi” was drawn. Tattoos were fun and fashionable. Irezumi were scary. This separate terminology has relaxed considerably. Some Japanese tattooers now use the words interchangeably. Others, however, still do not.
WHY JAPANESE TATTOOS CHANGED
Modern life influences the way tattoos are executed on physical and subconscious levels. There are no truly traditional Japanese tattoos because people don’t live in a traditional world. Western fashion, the internet, Japanese TV shows, and Hollywood movies all create a vastly different visual landscape. All of this impacts tattoos, reflecting contemporary visual culture. This is most evident in anime-infused geek ink.
Even if the designs hark back to an earlier era, modern tattooers can put a contemporary spin on their work with eye-popping hues. Colors like bright oranges, strong navy blues and vibrant purples are not originally part of irezumi’s color set. It wasn’t until the decades after the Second World War that a greater variety of hues like purple and orange started being used in Japanese tattooing in a big way. A whole host of new designs followed, along with a new way of thinking. Irezumi underwent one of its most significant changes ever.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Irezumi are still an underground phenomenon in Japan; indeed, that’s part of their appeal. Because of this, irezumi are enveloped in mythos and misinformation. My coauthor Hori Benny and I have seen plenty of non-Japanese with either faux or downright awful “Japanese-style” tattoos. Over the course of researching, interviewing, and writing this book, we consulted numerous friends, colleagues, experts, and total strangers with the goal of introducing and decoding the most prevalent motifs so that English speakers can have a better understanding of their meaning and hopefully get Japanese tattoos that can be worn with pride—as they should be.
The Birth of the Tattooing Machine
The Electrical Revolution
Samuel O’Reilly patented the first tattoo machine in 1891. The New York City tattooist based his device on Thomas Edison’s motor-powered electric pen. Twenty days later, in London, Thomas Riley filed a patent for a single-coil tattoo machine, which had been created from, of all things, a modified doorbell.
TATTOOIST PROFILE
HORIYOSHI III
JAPAN’S MOST FAMOUS TATTOOIST
“Are you ready?” Horiyoshi III calls to the customer in the waiting area. The unassuming client looks to be in his late 20s and seems like a typical button-down white-collar worker. He enters, greets the tattoo master with a bow, and undresses, revealing an irezumi bodysuit. He lies down on his stomach. On his back is a depiction of Buddhist hell—Horiyoshi III’s handiwork.
With international exhibitions of his paintings, numerous publications on his tattoos and his designs, and even a clothing line named after him, Horiyoshi III is perhaps Japan’s most famous tattooist. He is also a dedicated scholar of the form. The studio, a second-story walk-up in Yokohama, is lined with books. “I have another couple thousand or so at home,” he says.