Tattoos for spiritual and decorative purposes in Japan is estimated to extend back at least to the Jomon or Paleolithic period (about 10,000 BC). Some scholars have suggested that the distinctive cord-marked patterns observed on the face and body to represent the date of that period a tattoo, but this statement does not mean unanimity. There are similarities, however, between such signs and the tattoo traditions observed in other contemporary cultures. In the following Yayoi period (C. 300BC - 300 AD) tattoo designs were observed and said to the Chinese visitors. Such designs are considered to have spiritual meaning and function as a status symbol. Beginning in the Kofun period (300-600 AD) tattoos began to assume a negative connotation.
Rather than be used for ritual or status purposes, tattoo marks began to be placed on the criminal as a punishment (this is reflected in ancient Rome, where slaves are known to have tattooed with mottos such as "I'm a slave who had escaped from his master"). As the power of ordinary people and working classes of Japan grew in the second half of the Edo period (around the 18th century) horimono, or traditional Japanese tattoos, began to develop as an art form. Using images from traditional watercolor paintings, wood carvings and pictures from the books as a design time, the highest prize for patience and endurance of pain would be incredible beauty tattoos. Experience and enjoy Japanese tattoo horimono is important to understand the history and their background, and is also important to continue to preserve the tradition behind them.
The origins of traditional Japanese tattoos can be traced back to the last years of the Edo period in Japanese history. In the year 1603, which later became the ruler of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun was centralized government in Edo, now Tokyo. Within 200 years after this, the established feudal system began to stagnate, and in conflict with the martial arts classes, public Edo began to develop their own separate, unique culture for themselves. Rejecting the centuries of ethics and strict morality of the samurai Confucian beliefs and takes the theme based on the task, ninjo (human experiences and feelings), fashion and comedy the townspeople of Edo began to enjoy the novel, drama, comic tanka songs and theater. Books such as kokusenyagassen by Monzaemon
Chikamatsu, Honchohsuikohden and Satomihakkenden by Takisawa Bakin and many other publications, along with books and artwork all combined images to develop into a system that became a major outlet of cultural expression for the ordinary people of Edo . In this way the people of Edo took place, and the pride and mentality of ordinary people, manifested in such ways as dategokoro (pansy mode) and shokunin-kishitsu (pride and way of thinking of the working classes of Edo) from tobishoku, or collar workers blue, growing among the citizens such as workers, producers, or hikeshi firemen (in 18th century Edo ordinary fire, and the leading cause of death, as well as the source of many stories of heroism) and petty crook known as gaen . Some of the most working class people of Edo, in imitating the heroes Suikohden folklore, such as at the time was popularized by the famous woodblock artist Kuniyoshi (Suikohden is a legend that came from China,
where the criminals who, in opposing the local corrupt authorities became heroes people as the protector of the common people; oriental equivalent of Robin Hood) began to ritualistically and painfully tattoo themselves with designs based on folklore, such as dragons, giant snakes and lions china, and also with religious figures such as Bhudda, Fudomyo (God of Fire), Fujin and Raijin (the Gods Wind and Lightning) and Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) by using sharp needles to insert pressing charcoal ink under their skin. The people who do tattoos tend ukiyoe woodblock artists, who simply exchanged their wood-carving knife for a long, sharp needles. Over time, however, some of these artists specialized in tattooing and came to devote all their time to tattoo it, and thus became tattooists. This long process has come to produce what is known as a unique, traditional Japanese art form, horimono.
There are written records indicating that in Edo at the beginning of 1830 there are formal meetings of tattoo enthusiasts. Although the current Common tattoo conventions both in Japan and in the West, the fact that in Edo such conventions were held more than 150 years ago is an indicator of the long and rich history of traditional Japanese tattoos. Tattoos of Edo, Meiji and Shohwa era described in the classic 1936 work, Bunshin Hyakushi, or Hundred Tattoo Pictures and Stories, by Tamabayashi Haruo. In the book, the life and works of several renowned tattooists from the Edo period are described, such as Karakusagonta (from Asakusa), Darumakin and Iso (Yanaka), Charibun (Asakusa), Horitsun (Kameido), Ichimatsu (Asakusa), Kane (Yottsuya) and Horiichi (Osaka). But there is no record of photography and design their works, and so one must go by the word simply by word of mouth reputation. Horiuno Kamei was born in Unosuke Kanda, Edo in 1843.
At this time, the tattoo has increased in popularity among the people of Edo. Horiuno a tattoo at age 20, but traveled extensively throughout Japan, such as to Osaka, Kyoto and Shizuoka, and only really began to work full time from the age of 40 years. However, he continued his business well into the 70s and many of his works can still be seen today. Many of the customers in the local construction workers and manufacturing industries, and in 1912, some local residents of the area formed Choyu Kanda Kanda-kai, literally "Tattoo Friends Society of Kanda", and 10 years later, membership expanded to Kanda in the outside the region, to form Choyu Edo-kai. The members of this group, which consisted mostly of workers, such as construction workers, carpenters and plasterers, will meet every year in places like Ojinanushi-no-taki and Marukotamagawaen, took part in mass outdoor banquets, or in festivals such as sanja-Matsuri Asakusa, showing broad and complex body tattoos with pride. Horiuno is known throughout Japan and also abroad, and said Japan's most talented tattooist. However, at the same time, wealth-skilled tattooists, such as Horiiwa, Horikane, Kyuta and Nekokichi can be found throughout Japan.
Traditional Art Japanese Tattoos
