Tattoo Art in Modern Japan

Japanese tattoo art has a lot of names - irezumi and horimono in the Japanese language. Irezumi is the word meant for the basic visible ink covering huge parts of the body like the back. Japanese tattoo art has a extremely extensive tradition.
Since the influence of Confucianism and Buddhism over the Japanese culture, tattoo art has a damaging connotation for the majority of the Japanese individuals. In the eyes of an ordinary Japanese a ink is considered a mark of a yakuza - a member of the Japanese mafia - and a macho emblem of members of the lesser classes.

The Early History of Japanese Tattoo Art
Archaeologists believe that the initial settlers of Japan, the Ainu citizens, used facial tattoos. Chinese papers tell concerning the Wa inhabitants - the Chinese name meant for their Japanese neighbours - and the individuals lifestyle of diving into water for fish and shells and decorating the total skin with tattoos. These reports are in the region of 1700 years old.

For the superior developed Chinese culture, tattooing was a barbaric undertaking. As soon as Buddhism was brought from China to Japan and with it the solid influence of the Chinese culture, tattooing got destructive connotations. Criminals were marked with tattoos to punish and identify them within society.

Tattoos in the Edo Period
In the Edo period - 1603-1868 - Japanese tattoo drawings became a part of ukiyo-e - the suspended world culture. Prostitutes - yujos - of the pleasure quarters used tattoos to improve the individuals appeal for customers. Skin tattoos were furthermore used by labourers and firemen.

From 1720 on, the tattooing of criminals became an formal punishment and replaced taking away of the nose and the ears. The criminal received a ring ink around the arm in support of every offence or else a character ink on his temple. Tattooing criminals was continued until 1870, at what time it was abolished by the new Meiji government of the Japanese Emperor.
This visible punishment produced a further genre of outcasts which had no place taking part in society and nowhere to go. A lot of these outlaws were ronin - master less samurai warriors. They had no alternatives than organizing gangs. These men created the start of the yakuza - the controlled criminals inside Japan inside the twentieth century.

Japanese Tattoo Prints
In 1827 the ukiyo-e artist Kuniyoshi Utagawa published the original 6 emblems of the 108 Heroes of the Suikoden. The Suikoden were something like ancient Robin Hoods - honourable bandits. The story is based on a classic Chinese novel - Shui-Hi-Chuan, which dates from the 13th and 14th century. The novel was initially translated into Japanese in 1757 by Okajima Kanzanion. By the turn of the 18th to the 19th century the story was available with illustrations by Katsushika Hokusai. The novel of the 108 honourable bandits was extremely accepted in the sphere of Japan and created a kind of Suikoden trend amongst Japanese towns inhabitants.

Kuniyoshi's Suikoden ukiyo-e emblems bare the heroes in colourful, detailed body tattoos. Japanese ink prints and tattoo drawings in general at that moment became stylish. Tattoos were considered iki - cool - however were restricted to the poorer classes.
The richness and fantasy of the Japanese tattoo print emblems made known by Kuniyoshi are used by a quantity of ink artists up to this generation.

The Meiji Restoration until Postwar Japan
Within its strive to adopt Western civilizations, the Imperial Meiji government outlawed tattooing as something thought about a barbaric relict of the past. The funny thing was that the Japanese irezumi artists right away got brand new customers - the sailors from the foreign ships anchoring inside Japanese harbours. As a consequence Japanese ink designs was spread to the West.
In the course of the first half of the twentieth century, horimono remained a forbidden art form until 1948, as soon as the prevention was officially lifted. A few say that this step had become crucial to permit the demand by soldiers of the American occupation forces for horimono and irezumi.

Tattoo Art in Modern Japan
A number of younger individuals may well think about tattooing being cool, the majority of the Japanese population still considers it while something connected to the gangland of mafia gangsters and a rough low caste tradition at the finest. Younger folks who consider tattoos as iki - a marginal amongst Japanese youth - tend to use partial tattoos inside Western style on the persons upper arms, someplace it is not directly visible

Find 'cool tattoo' for You

Choosing the right tattoo varies from selecting a random design that you think looks good, to actually researching the meaning behind a particular tribal art tattoo. Here are two ways to choose a tribal art tattoo for you:

1.Choose randomly a tattoo. This tends to be the most common method individuals use, and it's unfortunate for a number of reasons. There has been a heavy trend towards tribal art tattoo designs in the past ten years, and many have hopped on the bandwagon, gone out and randomly chose a picture of tribal tattoo they thought was "cool". Had it not been trendy they wouldn't have ever thought to choose a tribal art tattoo to place on their body. These type of tattoo decisions are where regret later sets in after the trend wears off. Many feel foolish after realizing how "un-unique" their tattoo is while seeing everyone else with the same tribal art tattoo on their body.

2. Choosing meaning in your tattoo. Finding meaning when looking for a tattoo, can be done out of a rationalization that this will somehow justify hopping on the trendy tribal bandwagon. If you truly are after significance in your ink then do your due diligence, but if your a trend hopper then just hop on and be done with it.

Fortunately for those seeking symbols or meaning, searching for a tribal art tattoo, can be very rewarding and exciting. You can begin by researching the various tribes and finding a picture of a tribal art tattoo, and learn the meaning behind it. Native Indian, North American Indian, Pacific Northwest American Indian, Indigenous, African, Egyptian, Mayan, Aztec, Hawaiian, Samoan, Maori, South Pacific, Micronesian, Polynesian, Melanesian, are but a few tribal tattoo art designs to look into.

fashion of the year

Everyone in this worlds, women or men wants to be looked like a celebrity that has perfect and interesting appearances. They want to be stylish and elegant, so that they will be looks interesting and perfect in front of other people. And they are going to willing everything for the style. Style in this world always updated from year to year. The fashion of the year 2011 will be different with the fashion of the year 2010, 2009 and the latest years. There are many differences between the styles of the fashion every year.

T

he fashion of the year 2011 will be more futuristic and more advanced because of the modern technology that we have in the latest years. Every side of human being is developing from time to times include the world of fashion. Everyone may be has the different taste of style but the theme of the fashion will always be the same. The fashion of the year 2011 will be sexier and unique design.

Lady Gaga is one of the celebrities that have been the icon of the fashion of the year 2011, and also the K-POP style will still be the fashion of the year 2011. So, upgrade your style and be update with the newest style of fashion.

fashion -Jesse Lee Denning

Rio Lund photos 2

Rio Lund photos

Credit: Chris Fortuna (photographer), Shannon Moran (Retouching), Brittany Ineson (writer), Anna Shimonis (stylist), Benn Jae (Hair Stylist), Dorit at Next (makeup artist)

Lost Art leather shorts; Glynneth B necklace; gloves courtesy of PRB Los Angeles.

Jesse Lee Denning is a walking work of art

Credit: Warwick Saint (photographer), Robert McCormick (writer)

Maison Close bra; American Apparel underwear; Yves Saint Laurent heels (throughout); Ruby helmet (throughout)

The lovely Jesse Denning is a walking work of art—through God’s hands and the needles of tattoo artists. Her love for aesthetics runs deep, as she has worked in a number of New York City galleries, including Invisible NYC, the tattoo studio and art gallery she once owned a stake in. And as her impressive collection of ink attests, she appreciates art for art’s sake. “There are aspects to all periods, genres, and artists that I like—or that I can at least find interesting and certainly relevant in terms of a time line,” she says. “I have a soft spot for La Belle Époque, turn-of-the-century culture, arts, and literature. It was such a vibrant, progressive—yet sensual and transitional—period in terms of art and culture.”

But don’t scan her body looking for the work of period masters like Lord Leighton. While she has an eye for late-19th-century painting, she respects modern tattoo art as its own entity, in its own time. “Tattooing is an art in its own right with its own set of rules and imagery,” Denning says. “I wouldn’t necessarily take a painting or drawing to a tattooist and ask for it to be reproduced exactly as it is on paper on my body. I think it’s important to know how specific the art of tattooing is and that a tattoo artist should be allowed room for interpretation and the liberty to make sure the chosen image—or whatever piece—goes with the body. The body is a canvas unlike any other.” The artists she says have worked most on her skin are Andre Malcolm of FTW Tattoo and Jason Kundell of Art Work Rebels.

Rio Lund you might not pick up at first glance

Credit: Chris Fortuna (photographer), Shannon Moran (Retouching), Brittany Ineson (writer), Anna Shimonis (stylist), Benn Jae (Hair Stylist), Dorit at Next (makeup artist)

Eres bodysuit; Qupid heels; Ben-Amun bracelets.

There’s a lot to Rio Lund you might not pick up at first glance. “I have a bunch of hobbies I like to dabble in,” she says. “Surfing, gardening, learning how to break-dance, boxing, yoga, painting, fire dancing—” Wait, fire dancing? “You’ve never seen fire dancing?” Rio asks. “It involves poi balls, staffs, hula hoops … all these things on fire—and of course some fire breathing and swallowing.” As if she weren’t hot enough already.

“I’m also into knife throwing,” she continues. “I was asked to do a job for the Discovery Channel where I was supposed to be the assistant that gets the knives thrown at her. I didn’t volunteer because I didn’t want to be the avoided target.”

The Los Angeles native doesn’t stop her activity list there. She’s also a model and tattoo artist at Young Guns, in Hollywood. “Being a tattoo artist you notice imperfections, and being a model I only want the best work on me,” she says. “I got the majority of my work when I was younger, but nowadays the quality of tattoos is a lot better. I actually have a lot of tattoos I am removing because I want better ones.” The fire-dancing femme fatale will, however, keep the one closest to her heart—a portrait of her mentor Lou Bone on the inside of her arm. “I know he is always looking over the tattoos that I create, especially since he’s on the arm I tattoo with,” Rio says of the piece.

As for future ink, Rio prefers to keep it a mystery. “I find that you can’t be too careful because there are way too many people who tend not to come up with their own original ideas and end up copying everybody else’s tattoos,” she say. “So my future tattoos remain a mystery for now. Plus, I’ve got to keep you guys wanting more, right?” Absolutely.

Ginger Andersen - Boutique white shawl

Credit: Melanie Rud (writer), Greg Manis (photographer)

NYC Boutique white shawl, karmaloop.com; Huit thong.

Ginger Andersen is a nerd … just not the suspender-wearing, protractor-carrying sort. Still, this month’s Inked Girl sees no incongruity between her exterior appearance and her self-proclaimed nerdy personality. Case in point: A straight-A report card was the reason she was allowed to get her first tattoo at 16.

After having what she calls “occupational ADD” (some of her previous jobs have included working in car sales, at a photo lab, and for a strip-o-gram company), she now spends her days working as an artist, nerding out at comic book conventions, and sipping tea. Sounds mellow, but make no mistake: There’s an underlying hint of badass to Andersen. She doesn’t take any shit. Just try asking what pisses her off for a taste of her zestier side. “I hate ignorant or racist comments about my ethnicity,” she says emphatically. “When I say I’m half Danish, one of the dumbest things that gets tossed at me is, ‘Oh, you mean like the pastry?’ Do you ask a French person, ‘Oh, like the fry?’ No. It’s stupid.”

For the record, Andersen is half Danish and half Korean, a dual identity reflected in the tattoo on her back that she calls “an Asian-influenced Scandinavian story.” The “Southern Raised” script and gold catfish on her thigh are homages to her southern ties: “No matter where I travel in my life, my roots are very southern. The dirty South has raised me since I was 3.”

Andersen, who recently moved from Atlanta to Brooklyn, NY, says reactions to her ink differ north of the Mason-Dixon line. “In Brooklyn, the questions are all about where I got my work done, not blatantly ignorant questions like, ‘What about when you’re old?’” Her response to that ubiquitous query may be one of the better ones we’ve heard: “It’s all sex in the dark after a certain age anyway, so who cares?” Good point. In the debate of Ginger versus Mary Ann, we’re Ginger all the way.