Japan has had a long and tumultuous history with tattoos. They have been used as tribal identification, cosmetic art, punishment, decoration, gang fealty…the list goes on. For a long time, tattoos were used as a punishment to mark criminals, so bearing the mark had you shunted out of society. This eventually changed with rise of ukiyo-e in the eighteenth century, a type of woodblock printing art that sometimes featured tattooed heroes. These illustrated heroes became popular and influenced style, similarly to manga protagonists of the present-day. In response, the government cracked down on the rising popularity, outlawing the practice. However, some, such as laborers and firemen defied the laws, continuing […]
You are browsing archives for