和 彫 りJapanese tattooing
irezumi

Irezumi (入れ墨) is not a collection of Japanese pictures. It is a set of rules built up over centuries that governs how a motif sits against its background, how it follows the muscle, and how it reads both from across a room and up close.

What makes a Japanese tattoo Japanese

In irezumi, what sits around the motif matters as much as the motif itself. Waves (nami), clouds (kumo), wind (kaze) and rock are not filler. They give the main subject direction, movement and depth, and at the same time they hold the composition against the shape of the body.

That is why Japanese work suffers when a single motif is cut out and stuck in the middle of an arm on its own. A dragon with no background is just a dragon. A dragon rising out of the waves and wrapping around the bicep is irezumi.

The motifs and what they carry

Japanese motifs have meanings that were not assigned at random. You do not have to choose by symbolism — but it is worth knowing what you are carrying.

• Dragon (龍, ryū) — in the Japanese tradition it is not the destroyer it is in Europe, but a guardian of water and wisdom. It works best on a sleeve or a back, where it has the room to move.
• Koi carp (鯉) — perseverance. The legend has the carp swimming upstream to the waterfall and turning into a dragon. Swimming up means an obstacle still being faced; swimming down, one already behind you.
• Hannya (般若) — the mask of a woman turned demon by jealousy. Not a symbol of evil, but of pain and transformation. One of the strongest motifs for a forearm or a calf.
• Shishi (獅子) — the guardian lion. A protector, often paired with a peony. Sits beautifully on a shoulder or a calf.
• Tiger (虎) — courage, and protection against sickness and bad spirits. The dragon's counterpart.
• Peony (牡丹, botan) — wealth and daring, the “king of flowers”. Used alongside the shishi and on its own.
• Cherry blossom (桜, sakura) — impermanence. The flower that falls at the height of its beauty.
• Maple (紅葉, momiji) — the passing of time and the autumn of life. Often used as background to a snake or a hannya.

Where Japanese work belongs

The style was designed from the start for large areas. It comes into its own on:

• The sleeve — the classic. The whole thing can be built up session by session.
• The back — the largest canvas and the most room for composition.
• Thigh and calf — they heal well and carry large motifs comfortably.
• Chest and ribs — harder to sit through, but striking.

Smaller Japanese pieces — a daruma, a maneki neko, a hannya on the forearm — are perfectly fine. Just expect them to be drawn differently from a detail lifted out of a large composition.

Colour or black and grey

Both are right. Colour irezumi is what most people know from photographs — deep red, green and blue against black background work. Black and grey is the quieter, more timeless option; it ages a little better and is more reliable on darker skin.

When it is not obvious which way to go, we start by looking at what you already have tattooed and at how your skin behaves. What happens to be fashionable comes a long way after that.

How a larger project runs

1. Consultation. We go through the motif, the placement, the size and the budget. Free, and it commits you to nothing.
2. The drawing. I draw it myself, straight onto a photograph of your arm or back, so it fits your shape.
3. Splitting it into sessions. A sleeve usually takes four to eight sessions of six or seven hours.
4. Linework. The first session is normally the outline of the whole piece.
5. Shading and colour. Section by section, with time in between to heal.

I leave at least two to three weeks between sessions so the skin can recover. The detail is in the article on aftercare.

What a Japanese tattoo costs

Smaller pieces up to 20 cm come to 200 – 500 €. Larger compositions I count by the day — the day rate is 400 € for six to seven hours including breaks. A full sleeve starts at roughly 1200 €, depending on how involved it is and how many sessions it takes. The full ranges are in the price list.