3/7/2007

Many Japanese youths are rushing to get parts of their body as human canvases to be inked these days. Tattoo parlours have been shrooming across Japan as well, with clients queuing up for their turn. It sure seems like Japan has finally accepted the centuries old sub-culture of tattoo and watch out, it is going mainstream.

Before, tattoos were considered the mark of the Yakuza. Anyone who had one is assumed to be part of the Japanese mafia. In short, Japanese in general, have an aversion towards tattooing and view it as a very undesirable activity. Onsens used to forbid tattoo wearers to enter their vicinity. Now this is funny, if people with tattoos are presumed to be with the yakuzas, wouldn’t these onsen allow them entrance in the jiffy? I don’t know, i just thought offending a fellow mafiozo could cause serious retributions like your hands and legs chopped off and your onsen polluted with pee. I watch too much gangster movies…:)

But yakuzas aside, tattoos are definitely gaining popularity with the Japanese crowd these days. You see mainstream artists getting themselves inked with unicorns (Ayumi Hamasaki) and what not. It’s fashionable, and most importantly it’s art! The human body is a wonderful canvas.

“These days, the types of people getting tattoos is changing,” said Jun Matsui, a tattooist based in Tokyo and Brazil. But don’t presume that the subculture has been accepted just yet. Tattooists and tattoo lovers in Japan have struggled for centuries with disparagement and criticism, and it may not be as easy as it looks to dislodge the taboo.

Centuries old alright. Tattoos in Japan was served as a marking for criminals since the Edo period, to warn people that these people were criminals. And that is how the connection of tattoos to the yakuza came about. Apart from that, the tattoo was also restricted to yujo or legal prostitutes, geishas and their clients. Sometimes the geisha is forced by her lovers to get a tattoo. This can prove to be problematic for her other clients. The geisha had to remove it with fire and herbs - sometimes the geisha wounds up have to reapply it. Ouch.

This article on tattoos can be found in Metropolis. It’s a great read about tattooing and the traditions of tattooing in Japan.