http://darumamuseumgallery.blogspot.jp/2008/01/tatoo.html
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. Edo shokunin 江戸の職人 Edo craftsmen .
bunshinshi, bunshin shi 文身師 making tatoos
Flashing a bit of Tatoo was quite chic in Edo, but Tatoos have a long history, going back to the 縄文時代 Jomon period.
Since about 1810, making Tatoos became a special craft in Edo. Sometimes one artist painted the rough outline of an image and another specialist added the colors, using bamboo needles.
- reference : 文身師 -
Suikoden 水滸伝 and 歌川国芳 Utagawa Kuniyoshi
- quote -
The Suikoden is the Japanese translation of a classic Chinese novel titled Shui Hu Zhuan. The transliteration in Japanese provides the title 'Suikoden' and both are most often rendered into English as 'The Water Margin'. This novel, its translation into Japanese, and the ukiyo-e illustrations that accompanied the translation, were responsible for launching a tattoo craze and culture that endures to this day.
The Water Margin tells the tale of a band of outlaws that form around the marshes that surround Mount Liang (in Japanese, Ryosanpaku). . . .
- - - Tattoos and The Water Margin
So how do tattoos come into play? How do you go from a classic Chinese novel to traditional Japanese tattoos? Well it turns out that four of the main heroes in The Water Margin are tattooed. In the Shinpen Suikogaden: Shishin has nine dragons, Rochishin is tattooed with cherry blossoms, Choujun with blossoms or pine spray, and Ensei with peonies. Apparently as the story caught on with the general public it was these characters, amongst all the outlaws, that were quite popular.
Around the height of the 'Suikoden craze'
an ukiyo-e artist was commissioned to produce a series of woodblock prints depicting the heroes from The Water Margin. This artist went by the name Utagawa Kuniyoshi. The first five prints Kuniyoshi produced in 1827 were an immediate sensation. And two of the five characters in those prints were the tattooed heroes Rochishin and Shishin. The rest of the 108 characters quickly followed and the series was completed in 1830. The series was called 'Tsuuzoku Suikoden gouketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori', translated as
'The hundred and eight popular heroes of the Suikoden'.
- - - Kuniyoshi's Tattooed Heroes
Unlike previous illustrations or versions of The Water Margin, Kuniyoshi chose to illustrate a number of characters with tattoos other than the four mentioned above from the Hokusai edition. The characters and their tattoo motifs in Kuniyoshi's prints are depicted in the table below: - snip -
- - - Tattoos as Symbols of the Antihero and Socioeconomic Class
Kagaya Kichiemon and Tsuzoku by Kuniyoshi.
Between the illustrated Suikoden novel from Hokusai and the Kuniyoshi prints The Water Margin became the equivalent of a modern day blockbuster trilogy. The outlaws of the novel became the antiheroes to the working class. This may have had something to do with the fact that early 18th century Japan was still under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the Edo period (1603-1868) this rigid feudal system was characterized by a hierarchical class system with the shogun, his lords (daimyo), and their samurai as the ruling class. Merchants, peasants, artisans, and craftsmen, formed the lower class. . . .
- - - Tatto Stigma
It could be argued that the association of tattoos with the feudal underclass during the Edo period was a continuation of the tattoo stigma that began with the practice of tattooing prisoners. This negative stereotype and the subsequent ban of tattooing in Japan during the Meiji period that followed the Suikoden-associated rise of Japanese tattoos in the Edo period may have led to the subsequent association of tattooing with the Yakuza that developed in the 20th century.
- source : tattooexperiences.com -
CLICK for more of Kuniyoshi's illustrations !
刺青の牡丹のさわぐ夏祭
irezumi no botan no sawagu natsu matsuri
at the summer festival
the peony tatoo
is so excited
水原春郎 Mizuhara Haruo (1922 - )
son of Mizuhara Shuoshi 水原秋桜子
source : www.dclog.jp/en
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
. Edo shokunin 江戸の職人 Edo craftsmen .
bunshinshi, bunshin shi 文身師 making tatoos
Flashing a bit of Tatoo was quite chic in Edo, but Tatoos have a long history, going back to the 縄文時代 Jomon period.
Since about 1810, making Tatoos became a special craft in Edo. Sometimes one artist painted the rough outline of an image and another specialist added the colors, using bamboo needles.
- reference : 文身師 -
Suikoden 水滸伝 and 歌川国芳 Utagawa Kuniyoshi
- quote -
The Suikoden is the Japanese translation of a classic Chinese novel titled Shui Hu Zhuan. The transliteration in Japanese provides the title 'Suikoden' and both are most often rendered into English as 'The Water Margin'. This novel, its translation into Japanese, and the ukiyo-e illustrations that accompanied the translation, were responsible for launching a tattoo craze and culture that endures to this day.
The Water Margin tells the tale of a band of outlaws that form around the marshes that surround Mount Liang (in Japanese, Ryosanpaku). . . .
- - - Tattoos and The Water Margin
So how do tattoos come into play? How do you go from a classic Chinese novel to traditional Japanese tattoos? Well it turns out that four of the main heroes in The Water Margin are tattooed. In the Shinpen Suikogaden: Shishin has nine dragons, Rochishin is tattooed with cherry blossoms, Choujun with blossoms or pine spray, and Ensei with peonies. Apparently as the story caught on with the general public it was these characters, amongst all the outlaws, that were quite popular.
Around the height of the 'Suikoden craze'
an ukiyo-e artist was commissioned to produce a series of woodblock prints depicting the heroes from The Water Margin. This artist went by the name Utagawa Kuniyoshi. The first five prints Kuniyoshi produced in 1827 were an immediate sensation. And two of the five characters in those prints were the tattooed heroes Rochishin and Shishin. The rest of the 108 characters quickly followed and the series was completed in 1830. The series was called 'Tsuuzoku Suikoden gouketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori', translated as
'The hundred and eight popular heroes of the Suikoden'.
- - - Kuniyoshi's Tattooed Heroes
Unlike previous illustrations or versions of The Water Margin, Kuniyoshi chose to illustrate a number of characters with tattoos other than the four mentioned above from the Hokusai edition. The characters and their tattoo motifs in Kuniyoshi's prints are depicted in the table below: - snip -
- - - Tattoos as Symbols of the Antihero and Socioeconomic Class
Kagaya Kichiemon and Tsuzoku by Kuniyoshi.
Between the illustrated Suikoden novel from Hokusai and the Kuniyoshi prints The Water Margin became the equivalent of a modern day blockbuster trilogy. The outlaws of the novel became the antiheroes to the working class. This may have had something to do with the fact that early 18th century Japan was still under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the Edo period (1603-1868) this rigid feudal system was characterized by a hierarchical class system with the shogun, his lords (daimyo), and their samurai as the ruling class. Merchants, peasants, artisans, and craftsmen, formed the lower class. . . .
- - - Tatto Stigma
It could be argued that the association of tattoos with the feudal underclass during the Edo period was a continuation of the tattoo stigma that began with the practice of tattooing prisoners. This negative stereotype and the subsequent ban of tattooing in Japan during the Meiji period that followed the Suikoden-associated rise of Japanese tattoos in the Edo period may have led to the subsequent association of tattooing with the Yakuza that developed in the 20th century.
- source : tattooexperiences.com -
CLICK for more of Kuniyoshi's illustrations !
刺青の牡丹のさわぐ夏祭
irezumi no botan no sawagu natsu matsuri
at the summer festival
the peony tatoo
is so excited
水原春郎 Mizuhara Haruo (1922 - )
son of Mizuhara Shuoshi 水原秋桜子
source : www.dclog.jp/en
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