Image taken on 2008-09-24 18:41:50 by Okinawa Soba.
Categorized | Pictures 101
THE TATTOOED MEN of OLD JAPAN 入れ墨
Posted on28 February 2010.
35 Responses to “THE TATTOOED MEN of OLD JAPAN 入れ墨”
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1820Sep09
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I want one like this
yakuza?
I am curious what the real colors of the tattoo looked like.
wow~
not just tattoo
that’s skin painting
so beautiful~~~~!
*o*
Hi fab — Not Yakuza. In those days, it was a "guild" thing among certain classes and types of employment. For example, the "Mail Carriers" were generally tattooed like this.
Hi JS. No idea. I’m sure these attempts at hand coloring back then were only an approximation. These seem much more subdued compared to some of the really vibrant ones today. I’m sure there is an expert who knows what pigment selection the tattooers had in their pallet back then. Another homework assignment !
Poor guys… Perhaps they have not enough money to colour their tattoos. These are only Suji-bori (outline) yet.
I agree with Okinawa Soba Sensei.
Actually, I suspected the colorist painted these "tattoos" upon photographs – I might add, they would look crude as compared with another one http://www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2337821109/in/set-7215... . (Pardon!)
Hi HisuiJADE. The men in the picture are really Tattooed. Problem : Film in those days was said to be not sensitive to the type of blue pigments used, so the negative and print showed only a faint impression. The colorists would make it stronger again with their colors and bushes, blocking out or covering over the real thing. Some would do a good job, others were sloppy about it. In the end, if you can wash some of the coloring off (which i will not do), you can see the original tattoos on the photo. If you look at the original photos with a lens, you can also see the "real" and the "colors" on all of the old tattoo pictures. It is hard to see on flickr.
Mission Impossible…
Amazing how one is covered in flowers and fauna and the other in waves and swirls – can’t imagine any guy having anything like that now – even gang tattoos seem to be far more stereotypical than usual – gun / rose with thorns / nekkid lady / knives / portrait of themselves or their "girl" all too common and cliché now to be considered anything other than a transfer you get in a bubble gum packet . . .
These however are really very interesting – almost like clothing? or is that a bit too far . . . OR – quite a lot like Native American names but realised in tattoo form – like the flower guy may be someone who seems serene and gentle but get too close and you get tangled up in a whole lotta hurt – and the swirly guy – maybe he just knows how to push people around like waves.
Lovely shot as always
)
HisuiJADE. I am very sorry for making Tattoo Trouble here on flickr. Someone else (not on flickr) told me my Tattoo pictures were all fake. Oh well. This is very interesting, though. I will post more later.
nnnnnoooooOOOOooooo! :@
thats not cool – obviously you didn’t know – very sad man
They were too cool as well – came up with a story and everything man! lol
Ok. This is getting to me ! I dug out some originals, and will look at more. The men seem to be Tattooed in most shots, and one shows this clearly with no tinting. However, it also looks like the colorists ‘took liberties" and di not always stick to the lines on the skin. Going purely by the evidence, the tattoos in the photo above appear to be a mixture of fiction and truth — with ART winning out in places where I cannot see underneath the colors. Hmmmm. I will add this comment to the caption.
very feminine style…beautiful men )
I understand that body art in Japan was reserved for the gangster element and firemen. How true this is I do not know. The art work on these two gents is truly magnificent. I have attended Tattoo conventions where Japanese artist performed and based on what I observed, your photos look very authentic. I love all of your collection and really hope you continue to provide us with more. Thanks for sharing
I think jakuza would like to have the same tatoos, but these are too meaningful for them.
Flowers and rivers and living in the nature.
Nature is the the body. I like it
Wow, amazing!
Amazing picture, but I’d be embrassed with colorful flower on my… bottom (sorry, don’t know what is the right "polite" word in english… "butt" is unpolite, isn’it?)
Bananocrate ! ASS, BUTT, BOTTOM, DERRIERE, TUSH, TOOSH, FANNY, CHEEKS, MOON, etc and etc. I once met a guy from the hills of Tennessee who was raised to hear ASS as perfectly ok, but BUTT was a vulgarity that should not be spoken. Those two words had the opposite effect where I grew up in Pennsylvania.
ha HA! that was funny Soba san!
Okinawa Soba Sensei, thank you for posting new photograph and links; they are very interesting. I also browsed the Wikipedia page in Japanese, and I noticed an image that was the very same photograph, however the tatoos of the man on the right were different patterns; there were pine’s branches (on his back) and another water streams (on his thighs).
Irezumi/ 入れ墨 Wikipedia Japan: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Beato,_Felice…
HisuiJADE. The link to the other Stillfried image was very important. Thank you. I put them side-by-side on my computer screen, and had fun comparing them in detail. The LEGS of the man on the right are totally different, as you point out. Yet, other general portions follow the underlying tattoo on his back. The left man is generally the same theme, but much variation in the details. This PHOTOGRAPH vs ARTIST discussion has been very illuminating. I’ve have learned a lot from this thread. Thanks for your help and links.
By the way, I have gone through my books and boxes again, today. I have FOUR original prints of THIS ONE : http://www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2338656082/in/set-7215...
I will pick two (or all four?) and try to post a COMPOSITE were we can compare them here. This way, we can see where the artist / colorist was faithful to the true, underlying tattoo, and where he used his imagination to fill in the spaces that were not clear to him.
This might be the first of its kind on flicker ~ a chance to see the beautiful old photos, while at the same time, understand the world of the colorists who had the sometimes difficult job of tinting these images.
Photograph vs colorist, otherwise photograph vs drawing addict discussion, I think
"Here’s the Wiki history of the TATTOO in Japan (unbelievably, it’s un-illustrated) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irezumi"
Can I upload this to wikipedia to illustrate the article, unless you wanna do it yourself?
IIIIIIIIII……thanks for the offer. Please go here http://www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/sets/72157607147505938/ , pick your favorite shot (or two), and upload to the Wiki article. Thanks, IIIIIIIIIIIII
wikipedia article is illustrated now, with one of your images
IIIIIIIII. I just went to see it. Very good. Many Thanks.
but it is strange left doesn’t coincide with right draws
Very Interesting
great! i love the tattoos!
foto mto boa…….paz
Hi, I’m an admin for a group called tattoo people, and we’d love to have this added to the group!
There is something really beautiful about them
Most of the Samurai of old Japan would have found them quite attractive, as well.
wow…that is amazing…beautiful.