Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Japanese Tattoos - A Brief History

The traditional Japanese tattoos known as 'horimono' became very popular among the people of the 18th century or the Edo period. The most popular choices for the designs of the tattoos were the images from traditional water color paintings, picture books and woodcuts. Understanding the history and background is as important to experience and enjoy the Japanese horimono tattoos as it is to preserve their traditions.

The Edo period was like a period of Cultural Revolution for the Japanese. There were many changes that happened during that period at different levels of the society. A different class of people grew up out of the ordinary people of Japan, who found lot of interests in fashion, comedy, drama, novels, songs, and theatre. So, a unique and separate culture began to grow up.

As the society of Edo progressed, the ordinary people began to take pride in activities of fashion. Gradually, the Edo working class people began to imitate the heroes from the folk stories they used to read in the books (especially the picture books) and comics and other artworks as popularized by the famous woodblock artist Kuniyoshi. Getting highly impressed from these artistic works, the people began to tattoo themselves ritualistically and painfully with the designs based on folklore, such as dragons, Chinese lions, and giant snakes, and also with religious figures with the help of sharp needles for inserting pressed charcoal ink under their skin.

The people who carried out the process of tattooing were mostly the woodblock artists who simply had to exchange their wood-carving blades for long and sharp needles. With time, some of these people became so much involved with tattooing that common people began to accept them as tattoo specialists. This is how the unique Japanese traditional body art form, horimono was formed.

Today, it is very common to have tattoo conventions in Japan as well as in the West. But to have such conventions in the Edo period in Japan around 150 years earlier is itself a strong indicator of the Japanese having a long and rich history of tattoo culture.

Even though there are no photographic record of their works and designs, lot of books are available today which describe the life and work of many tattoo artists of the Japanese Edo period.

One very famous tattooist from the Edo period is Horiuno. Horiuno was born in 1843. He became a tattooist at the age of 20. But before beginning to work full time from his age of 40, he travelled extensively throughout Japan, going from place to place like Osaka, Kyoto and Shizuoka. However, he continued doing his business well into his seventies and much of his work can be seen even today. Most of his customers used to work in the local construction and manufacturing industries, and in 1912, some of these people of the Kanda area formed the Kanda Choyu-kai, meaning "Tattoo Friends Society of Kanda", and after another 10 years, the society was extended to outside the Kanda area, and formed the Edo Choyu-kai.

All the members of this group, who are mostly labourers such as construction workers, carpenters and plasterers, meet every year at places like Ojinanushi-no-taki and Marukotamagawaen, take part in mass outdoor banquets, or in festivals such as the Asakusa Sanja-matsuri, and present their intricate and extensive body art tattoos with pride.

Horiuno was known as the most talented tattooist from Japan and was famous throughout Japan and also overseas. However, at that time there were many other equally skilful tattooists in Japan, such as Horikane, Kyuta, Horiiwa, and Nekokichi.

Japanese Tattoos

Unlike the Chinese people, the Japanese people are currently very big on tattoos, but that was not always the case. In fact, for a brief time near the end of WW II, getting or giving a tattoo in Japan was actually illegal. The end of the war brought an end to that crime as well.

The alphabetic characters that appear in many Japanese tattoos are called Kanji. These characters, alone or in combination with others, can display a whole range of human emotions, thoughts, proverbs and poetry.

In addition to the calligraphic-like Kanji characters, there are many different animal, spiritual and nature-oriented symbols and images that make their way onto people's body parts in the form of a Japanese tattoo.

Irezumi, one of the more traditional Japanese tattoo styles depict dragons, koi and other symbols of Japanese culture and lifestyle. These types of Japanese tattoos are becoming increasingly popular with women who are having these sometimes intricate tattoo designs placed on their hips, back, ankles and arms. Even an occasional breast dragon has been spotted in the wild or during a wet T-shirt contest at some spring break bar in Florida or Mexico.

History of the Chinese Tattoo

The recorded history of Japanese tattoos goes back to around 5000 B.C., and it's likely that Japanese people were drawing tattoos on each other even before then since early Japanese artifacts dating back earlier than those days include clay figurines with tattooed faces.

In the early days of the Japanese warrior clans, large and elaborate tattoos symbolized the warrior's ability to withstand pain. The larger and more intricate the Japanese tattoo was, the braver the warrior.

As warriors began to fall out of fashion, and the Japanese culture moved towards the arts, Japanese tattoos shifted to symbolize an appreciation for the finer things in life and were frequently associated with wealth and power.

Today, many Japanese people, as well as people from around the world, admire the beauty of Japanese tattoos and the skills of the artists who create them.

Why Japanese Tattoos

Because you love sushi and you want to show solidarity with your favorite itamae, or sushi chef. Or maybe you're a history buff and you want to join in with King George V, Winston Churchill's mother, King Oscar of Sweden, and Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who were all known to sport a Japanese tattoo or two.
People also choose to adorn themselves with Japanese tattoos because they are enamored with the classic simplicity of the Japanese Kanji characters which can say so much in so little a space.

Chinese Tattoo Trends

Asian-fusion, Sony, video games, all of those Japanese tourists with three cameras around their neck, and a sushi bar on every corner are all contributors to the Japanese tattoo trend.
You don't have to eat raw fish to enjoy a Japanese tattoo. All you have to do is have a love for the simplicity of the Kanji characters, or an appreciation for the spiritual and natural elements that form the basis of many Japanese tattoos.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Cool Tattoo Designs For Men And Women

Have you ever wondered what the coolest tattoo designs are and how you can find them?  It is so common to see people in search of cool tattoos.  They search on Google and they post questions on Yahoo always looking for cool tattoos.  So what is a cool tattoo and what should you get tattooed on your body permanently?  Well you might not like the answer but what is cool is whatever you think is cool.  Keep reading and let me explain in more detail.

What Is Being Cool

The firs thing that you have to really look at when you ask yourself the question what is a cool tattoo design is what is cool in the first place.  You see everyone descries what they think is cool in a different way.  For some people a cool tattoo might be a lower back female design.  For other a cool tattoo is a skull and crossbones.  For the computer geeks in the crowd cool might be some  code.  You see when you start to dive into this question is really opens up a Pandora’s Box of what is cool.

Let Me Tell You What Cool Is

Okay so, let me close Pandora’s box once and for all and just end this whole debate of cool tattoo designs. 

What is cool is completely up to you and what you think.  It is a state of mind that comes from being self assured and confident.  Cool people are really no different than anyone else the only thing that sets them apart is their self confidence and the time and place.  If you take someone that was cool back in the 1970’s and transplanted them to current time they would no longer fit in or be cool.  So the best thing to do is be self assured and confident in who you are.  Revel in your uniqueness and difference.  You see after all that is really what tattoos are all about.  Tattoos are a incredible form of self expression and showing the world a small piece of your inner workings or inner thoughts.  If you are comfortable with who you are and what you think and like then you will end up getting a tattoo.  For the mere fact that you like it!

What Is Not Cool

What is not cool and this will translate into tattoo designs also is not being confident and constantly worrying about what other people think.  This will make you feel a lot of pressure and be in a since of panic.  If you are in this state it shows to everyone around you and you will in no way carry yourself in a cool manner.  So getting a tattoo design because it is a design someone told you was cool or your friends got the same thing will not make you cool.  Copying what your favorite celebrity does will not make you feel cool.  Instead spend some time doing some searching within you and find what is important to you and ways that you can express that through your tattoos.  Sure you run the risk of no one understanding your designs or what you were going for but who cares you did it for yourself and no one else.

With all of that said I know that unfortunately there are still a few out there reading this saying in their minds and to themselves, “okay I get that so what is cool”   and they might be wondering when is this guy just going to tell us what are the cool tattoo designs.  So since you can’t beat them all the time and I know some people will never listen here are some of the top cool tattoo designs for men and cool tattoo designs for women listed below.

Tattoo Designs For Men
Ambigrams
Old School Tattoos
West Coast Style Tattoos
Japanese Tattoo Designs
Dragon Tattoos

Tattoo Designs For Women
Flowers
Butterflies
Sayings, Poems And Text
Italian writing
Foot Tattoos


 

How to Understand Japanese Tattoo Designs

Ancient relics for example clay pottery and statues showed images of Japoneses individuals who had been intricately tattooed. Even more fascinating, the initial Japoneses tattoo designs were found on people of high social standing. Numerous Japoneses historians now agree that the earliest Japanese tattoo designs had been utilized in rituals to signify the positions of individuals in society, too as to supply ways to guard one's self from evil spirits.

The Japoneses people are one of the first great civilizations to include tattooing into their culture. While in China the art of tattooing began as a way to mark off the prisoners and also the other outcasts of culture, the Japoneses tattoos had been valued in a various manner from the start.

Japoneses tattoos are rich in inspiration. Like all arts, the Japoneses learned to incorporate their most important values into their skin through tattoos. This may be the reason why one from the cherished values of the early Japoneses people, religion and love, is frequently the primary motifs of the people's cooper tattoos. The courtesans, artists, and even the geishas of Japan were all acquainted with tattooing and utilized it as individual markers of their religious backgrounds and who they love.

An example of how Japoneses tattoo styles were used to symbolize adore was in the vow tattoo. Some geishas will have their lover's names imprinted in their arms so that you can display their promises of lasting adore. Aside from being utilized for making promises about adore, the tattoo in Japanese culture also evolved aesthetically.

During some periods, the style of these tattoos were rendered with intricate detail. On the other hand, throughout some other times the Japanese had tattoos had been less like pictures and much more like moles. These dot tattoos had been symbolic and had been also often used by lovers to indicate the places where their loved ones had touched them, for example the hand.

Ultimately, the Japanese tattoos came to posses not just a cultural note, but also a social and political one. From the late seventeenth century up towards the latter half from the nineteenth century, numerous middle class people utilized tattoos to express their social and political sentiments.

Everybody in the office workers of that time, towards the farm hands and also the street merchants began placing high value about the political statements that had been expressed through Japanese tattoo designs. Even the upper class members of culture looked upon tattoos with higher regard, and many shows had been conducted to showcase the craftsmanship of numerous tattoo artists.

In general, Japoneses tattoo styles are intricately linked to the cultural values from the individuals. Prior to full body tattoos developed, the back was the sole place exactly where these skin art functions had been rendered. Often the themes had been the epics and folktales of the Japoneses individuals themselves, which mean that within the past, a Japanese entire body filled with tattoos can really contain the history of the people itself. Eventually, complete entire body tattoos became popular and Japoneses tattoo styles began to be utilized to show one more aspect of the values that were important towards the Japanese, aesthetics itself. Today, Japanese inspired tattoo styles are popular due to the designs which are distinct to Japoneses artists or those that have been heavily influenced by the Japoneses, seen by this kind of motifs because the carp and other water elements.

How to Get Ideas for the Perfect Tattoo Design

If you are trying to find the perfect tattoo and haven't been able to find it yet, here are a few tips to help you find the perfect tattoo. Of course, you can look up our tattoo shop in Naples for innovative designs but below is other ideas for those outside of Naples Florida. Often, the uniqueness of a tattoo design depends on the artists of the tattoo parlors. However, it is common to be bored with a particular tattoo design and hence, you must know how to get new design ideas.

3 Ideas to find the Perfect Tattoos
The Internet- If you have done your share of hunting the tattoo shops, search the net for information on the best tattoo parlors. You can also find various designs online by simply typing the body part where you would like to have it. Make a list of the best designs and show it to your tattoo artist to hear his suggestions.

An Artist Friend- You can take a long an artistic friend to the tattoo shops to help you chose the best design. His tastes should complement yours and he should have good vision about matching tattoo designs with personalities. You could also ask him to create a design for you and then take it to a tattoo artist to be refined.

Out-of-Town Tattoo Artists- Most of the tattoo artists will let you to go through their tattoo designs at their studios. If you can't find the design you're looking for in your town get an appointment with a tattoo artist in the next town closest to you. The drive may be a little further but you're going to have the tattoo for the rest of your life so the extra drive is worth it.

Finding new tattoo designs on your own If these tattoo sources do not match your persona, use your creativity to make variations out of different patterns. Here are some of the most interesting tattoo ideas:

The Tribal Tattoo Designs are based on primitive cave paintings. Different cave motifs have different significations like power, peace, purity etc. 
The Celtic Tattoo Designs come in a range of interesting patterns found in most tattoo shops. The
Celtic Cross is among the most common patterns.
The Zodiac Tattoo Designs reflect your faith in astrology. Ask any tattoo parlor to get your zodiac tattooed on you in a personal style.
The Japanese tattoo Designs bring out the beauty and mysticism of Oriental designs. Tattoo artists in Western tattoo parlors are good at etching these designs.
The Dragon Tattoo Designs are connected with the Chinese concept of luck. Visit the tattoo shops that excel in Oriental designs.

Japanese Tattoo Designs - The Only Comprehensive Guide!

Did you know that the ancient Japanese were intricately tattooed? Relics of discovered art such as statues and pottery revealed this. And the more interesting fact is that Japanese tattoo designs were first inked on the skin of Japanese who were in the upper strata of the society then. Many Japanese history scholars formed the conclusion that Japanese tattoo designs were used in ceremonies that define the ancient Japanese standings in society and to ward off bad spirits.

In contrast to the reasons of ancient China's practice of tattooing which had the primary purpose of labeling criminals and society misfits, the Japanese did it to elevate those worthy to be up there in society, thus, it was more of something that brought honor.

Apart from honor, Japanese tattoos were also made to inspire. The courtesans, geishas and artists wore tattoos that labeled who they were, what religions they believed and whom they loved. Well-practiced and kept values like religion and love were the common themes that were reflected on the skins of ancient Japanese people.

Some might find this odd, but do you know that the geishas had the names of their lovers' names tattooed on their arms to prove their love of eternity?This is what they called vow tattoo. But of course, in present day Japan, tattoos have become more of an expression of art rather than showcasing promises.

At certain stages of time, Japanese tattoo designs were characterized with elaborate details. However, there was also a time that the tattoos looked like small markings that looked like a mole. This was during the time when the tattoo served as the reminder of of cherished romantic moments like what part of the body had been touched by a partner.

Interestingly, at a particular time of Japanese history, tattoos were used to express political and social sentiments. Regardless of their place in society, almost everyone in Japan wore tattoos to make their sentiments regarding the political status of Japan from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century known.

On the whole, Japanese tattoo designs are closely related to the values, thinking and sentiments of its people. Prior to the existence and acceptance of full of body tattoos, the place where tattoo designs could be inked was the back of a person.  But over time, a full body tattoo bearing symbols of folk lores and folk tales became rampant. These days, another part of Japanese culture and belief are reflected by the tattoos that they have, such as carp and other elements associated with water. Amidst all these changes in the purpose of having a tattoo in Japan---from classifying social status, vow of never-ending love, reminder of romantic moments to political protest---there's no denying that Japanese tattoos echo values, sentiments and art itself. Many of the Japanese tattoo designs that are popular today are very distinct to Japanese tattoo artists and are not only used on Japanese skin but on those who have been smitten by and in awe of the creative Japanese designs.



Monday, February 7, 2011

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