Irezumi
Irezumi is the Japanese word for tattoo. In English, it is used to talk about many types of Japanese tattoos. It is also used to talk about ways of tattooing people that came from Japanese people, such as the Ainu and Ryukyuan people.[1]
Irezumi is not done with any tattoo machines. It is done with metal needles that are put on wooden sticks with silk. It uses a special type of ink called Nara ink. Ainu and Ryukyuan tattoos use ink from indigo plants. Making irezumi in this way takes a long time. It is also painful to get irezumi. Tattoos are made by a small number of people named horishi. Horishi usually have apprentices that work with them.[2]
During the Edo period, criminals were given tattoos.[3] Where these tattoos were put was based on what crime someone did. For example, murderers were tattooed on the head. This made tattoos connected to crime in Japan. In the 19th century, the Japanese government made tattoos illegal.
Irezumi Media
- Ainuschönheit (Sammlung Bälz).jpg
An Ainu woman with a tattoo around the mouth, 1910
- Irezumi Kojiruien.jpg
Various tattoos imposed as corporal punishment during the Edo period, from the Koji Ruien.
A tattooed man's back, c. 1875
- Brooklyn Museum - Tammeijiro Genshogo from Tsuzoku Suikoden Goketsu Hyakuhachinin no Hitori - Utagawa Kuniyoshi.jpg
Tammeijiro Genshogo by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Brooklyn Museum
Yakuza showing off their tattoos and status at the Sanja Matsuri festival in Japan, 2007.
Tattoo artist working on a body suit
References
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 630: attempt to index field 'known_free_doi_registrants_t' (a nil value).
- ↑ Bagot, Pascal. "The Way of the Ink". 2010.
- ↑ "The Tattoos that Marked the Criminals of the Edo Period". Pen Magazine International. 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2023-02-14.