Cool Tattoos

photo credit: pinkiwinkitinki

Japanese Tattoo also referred by the terms, Irezumi and Horimono are certainly beautiful. This tattoo can be complicated to create and understand because Japanese language has no actual alphabet. There are three separate groups of characters used in Japanese writing such as the Katakana with a sharp and masculine style, the Hiragana that represents sound with feminine look, and the kanji for complex yet beautiful symbol for a tattoo.

photo credit: Frenkieb

The Kanji tattoo or the Japanese Tattoo Symbols are popular in America and Europe . The Kanji designs are subtle, yet it has a striking impact to make an artistic statement that is both modern and meaningful. Japanese Kanji characters have Chinese origin used for nouns like the word peace, perseverance, etc.

The larger percentage of the Japanese population having tattoos is still considered lower class or Yakuza (The Japanese Organized Crime gangs). But as Japan becomes more modernized or “westernized” many of the Japanese younger generations are now sporting tattoos. The Japanese Tattoo called the Irezumi literally means “insert ink”, has become the most accepted word to designate the art form of tattoos.

Japanese Tattoo art is rich with symbolism linked to ancient traditions. The majority of these tattoos consist of heavily written symbols that are divided into 3 main categories. The combination of “Kanji” symbols in your tattoo design is possible to create a stylish and unique tattoo that expresses numerous ideas and messages. The Hiragana writing is also known as cursive tattoo and the Katakana represent words that are non Japanese having sharper edges and more angular in appearance.

Irezumi or Horimono is the Japanese word for the traditional visible Japanese Tattoo that covers large parts of the whole body like the arms, shoulders, leg, and the back.  Until now, traditional Irezumi is done by specialist tattooists; it is painful, time-consuming and expensive. Nowadays, Japanese young people choose to get one point or small designs tattoos  that can be completed in one sitting usually in the American or tribal styles.

The remarkable beauty of Japanese Tattoo is that you can choose beyond symbols or small, meaningful designs and create masterful images that can cover large areas of your body. These images or designs can portray remarkable outdoor scenes with large billowy clouds or even fantastic scenes of a wavy ocean. The chest panel is a classic placement of this tattoo, the tattoo starts at the chest and blends out into the shoulder down to the arm. Or the sleeve piece that starts under the shoulder and down to the wrist.

Tattoos are now gaining popularity among Japanese youth. They are more interested in one-point smaller tattoos on one part of the body that are done in one sitting. The frequent Japanese style tattoos are the phoenix, dragons, animals, religious images, geisha, samurai, anime, backgrounds, etc. The Japanese Tattoo symbols like the Kanji Characters are used for nouns like peace and perseverance, the Katakana are used for foreign word like Emily, and the Hiragana for adjectives and grammatical stuff.