CONTROVERSY AND THE NEW ZEALAND MOKO

ORIG
AN
TE CIEN
TA
Ink BO
R
in
RT
I
Ha
rm TA
T
on
TO OF T
y
O M HE
AS JAP
TE
RS ANE
CONTR
OVERS
Y AND
NEW Z
THE
E
ALAND
Interna
M
tional I
OKO
nfluenc
the Ma
es a
or
i Tattoo
SE
G
KLIN
IN
OF
o
tto
n Ta
als i
nd App
ropriat
ion of
ERN
C
N
y
CO
utin
ace
F
Inks
Scr
mic
Che
WHY ARE TATTOOS
SO SEXY?
Dr. M
ichae
l Man
tell ex
plains
the ap
SPRING 2012
pea
1
16
6 CONTROVERSY AND THE
NEW ZEALAND MOKO
International Influences and
Appropriation of the Maori Tattoo
16 INKLING OF
CONCERN
Chemicals in Tattoo Ink
faces Scrutiny
28 ANCIENT ART OF THE
JAPANESE TEBORI
TATTOO MASTERS
Ink in Harmony
32 CALIFORNIA LOVE
We talk to west coast artists to see
what all the fuss is about
38 TACKY U.S.A.
Why are Americans inclined to get
bad tattoos?
Publisher Melissa Blenkhorn
College Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Editor Jan Kubasie-wwicz
Literary Editor Duke Harten
Legal Affairs Nancy Murphy
Photography
Cullor recabor iatisimi, quas ilique labore, estorum hil
maximus.
Debis estiumet adi ventiatiae quatis alia dem ressus ut
escil illenim olupitatur amus estiisseque optaqui aturesc
imagnimus aria non nonem anducil ipis ipsam ra velent,
totae. Nam erem nossima ximinve resequi que optasin
ctest, culpa sento occatur? Fugitatiis exceperum aut
ut velis demquo con rernatur aut esciatur serrovit, ut
volese re laborro volum res vendam venditat plamus
exerit pa quisci reperio remporerrum aut faciis sim utas
aliquo mos estias nonsedicit vendicipsam repratincia
nam quibus magni tem namus excearu ptatincitios si to
ipsuntiunt aut lam, suntiae lit voloria volorum voluptus
ut abo. At dolori del inulliq uisquisti ratur as ped est
volum, quatqua tinciti bearchil molupiti odioratin conse
dolupta sunt.
Obit doluptatem inulpa nonsendit quam, sim nulpa vel
mintem facea derereribus ea volendus dolores sequatio.
Um voluptatem expero ent.
Inis dolorem veniet exces ma quam impeliquo discili
tenihit iationsequi cumquia doluptas que et essin excearum re volore con provit quae. Accus sae ommolesed
et officium quidebisquas et ium dolorepelia nectur, inctur, ipis dolest, officiet, solenis que cus, sit ea consequid
mo quist, illent alitas volenisci berate asperum, teces mo
cume sed estibus andandame occus et eos doluptatium
qui berunt peria eati dolorem illupta ecestibusdam net
quaercienis vit faccullanda as aliquae nihilique quae
elendae dic temolup tatur, qui optatur?
Idem quidebita dolorum arisquundis et que porerep
erepro blacest ex eum int fugiam, occae sitaspelis
nonestem earitet esciae pratius, totatiam similig enimil
et, volupta as
54
40 COMING SOON TO A
PHARMACY NEAR YOU
Researchers may have found a
medical use for getting inked.
42 MATT MYRDAL
Discusses the differences in tattoo
culture on the islands of Hawaii.
46 COPY CATS
What to do about someone who
duplicates your ink.
48 ROSE COLORED
GLASSES
Why female artist Megan Massacre
believes color work is better work
62 WHY ARE
TATTOOS SO
SEXY?
Dr. Michael Mantell explains the
psychology behind the allure
72 FINALLY, FINE ART
Amanda Wachob proves her work
museum worthy.
78 BUILD YOUR OWN TATTOO GUN
Not that you should, but Frank
54 FROM BLACKLIST TO
BLACKCARD
Tattooing has shifted from taboo to
couture.
Pino shows you how
62
controversy
and the
new zealand moko
International Influences and Appropriation of
the Maori Tattoo
rachel sawaya
4
ORIGINK
SPRING 2012
5
One of the most visible and spiritual
aspects of Maori culture is the moko, or
traditional tattoo. This beautiful artwork
has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years,
with both Maori and non-Maori receiving it
on their skin, as well as using it as inspiration in other artistic ventures. Traditional
methods and purposes are often lost or
ignored in these modern interpretations,
leading to controversy.
The moko is a sacred part of Maori
tradition. It could only be given by certain
men, who had considerable prestige and
training, and the act of giving the moko to
a person was surrounded by tapu (a state
similar to holiness or sacredness, or the
forbidden). There were many rules governing the act, including that the recipient
could not talk to others who were not also
6
ORIGINK
receiving the moko, and could not eat with
his or her hands during the process.
Tattooing the moko was a long and
painful process, particularly as the marks
were not made with a needle, but with a
chisel which left a grove in the skin. It was
considered part of the ritual, and a demonstration of the recipient’s mana (spiritual
strength or courage) that he or she not
display any discomfort while their skin was
being broken.
The design of each moko was unique,
and although much of the symbolism is
lost now; it would usually display the tribe
and status of the wearer. It might also tell
of his battle wounds, or ancestors or in the
woman’s case, her right to marry, or her
job, such as midwife. It also told of the
plain fact that the wearer had been given
SPRING 2012
7
A mummified Maori head
that was once kept in a
Normandy museum. It was
recently repatriated to New
Zealand after 136 years.
the right to wear moko, something that
was not granted to everyone, and that the
wearer had survived the giving of it, also
far from a certainty.
Controversy began with the introduction of
European methods of tattooing. Needles
in particular became more popular and
eventually overtook the traditional chisel.
The moko made with needles could be of a
finer design, as well as healing faster and
cleaner. However, in
Michael King’s book
Moko: Maori Tattooing
in the 20th Century,
he explains that some
families, as late as
the 1970’s, did not
consider tattooing
with needles the ‘real
thing’.
An even greater controversy, with implications reaching into the modern era, concerns the historical trade in Maori heads
or mokomokai. Often when someone with
moko died, the head would be preserved by
the tribe. It would be dried and kept as a
tribute to the mana of the previous owner.
European museums and private collectors
of colonial times wanted these heads and
A non-Maori artist tattooing
modified Maori designs to a
non-Maori recipient.
tattooing with needles
is not the real thing.
8
ORIGINK
would pay high prices for them, leading to
a grisly trade of heads for guns.
The heads were often of slaves that had
not been tattooed in life, but were given
full moko after death to increase their
price, or people killed in raids purposely
engineered to collect heads. Many of these
heads are still in museums in foreign
countries and recently there has been a
SPRING 2012
9
10
ORIGINK
SPRING 2012
11
A New Zealand Native
participating in a
traditional festival
DEVALUING THE
SACRED NATURE
OF MOKO
movement to return the heads to their
descendants, or at least to New Zealand.
Many mokomokai have been brought home
as a result of this, but many more are still
overseas.
There is debate over the validity of giving
moko to non-Maori. Several celebrities have
had Maori designs tattooed on themselves
recently, notably Robbie Williams and Ben
Harper. In the case of Williams, although
his tattoo was made by a Maori artist, it
was not meant to be meaningful in the
traditional sense. Pita Sharples, a Maori
cultural authority, objected to the design,
claiming that it was the intellectual property of his tribe.
There were cases of Europeans being
given moko (or having moko forced upon
them) even before the decline of moko tradition. John Rutherford, for example, was
a sailor who was captured by a tribe and
forcibly tattooed. So the controversy today
lies not with the idea of non-Maori being
tattooed, but with non-Maori people appropriating the traditional designs without
understanding them, or giving them proper
respect. This has also been demonstrated
on the catwalk, with several cases in the
last ten years of moko art used as a theme
12
ORIGINK
in designer collections, such as Jean Paul
Gaultier’s in 2007. Some praise this sort
of international attention as a means of
showcasing Maori art to the world. Others
condemn it for devaluing the sacred nature
of moko.
The break of a century or more, particularly in the art of mens’ moko which
died out around the mid 1800’s, means
that there is little or no real continuity in
the craft, and practitioners today must go
on with fragmented knowledge. This, along
with global appropriation of local designs,
has led to debate over the true purpose and
respect due to modern interpretations of ta
moko.
SPRING 2012
13
A BRIEF HISTORY OF TATTOOING
1700: Obeying the letter of
the law middle-class
Japanese adorn themselves in
full-body tattoos when a law
is passed that only royals can
wear ornate clothing.
3300BCE: Ötzi the Iceman dies in the
Austrian Alps, where his frozen body
is discovered by hikers in 1991 CE,
making him the world’s oldest
mummy. His 57 tattoos – straight
lines and small crosses, mostly – are
believed to be therapeutic, possibly
used to treat osteoarthritis.
14
ORIGINK
2800 BCE: The
ancient Egyptians
popularize tattooing
as an art form,
which spreads from
Greece to China.
921 CE: Islamic
scholar Ibn Fadlan
meets Vikings on a
journey from Baghdad
to Scandinavia and
describes them as
covered from neck to
toe with tattoos.
1600: Unlawful
intercourse by Indian
priests is punished by
tattooing genitals on
their foreheads.
1802: By now, tattooing has
caught on with sailors
throughout the Royal Navy, and
there are tattoo artists in almost
every British port. Especially
popular are Crucifixion scenes,
tattooed on the upper back to
discourage flogging by pious
superiors.
1790: Cpt. Cook returns from
the South Pacific with a tattooed
Polynesian, Omai. He starts a
tattooing trend among the
upper-class in London. Omai
introduces the word tattoo into
Western lexicon, from the
Tahitian tatau, "to mark."
1846
Martin Hildebrandt
sets up New York’s
first tattoo shop on
Oak Street in lower
Manhattan.
1891: American Samuel O’Reilly
"borrows" Edison’s electric pen design
to patent a nearly identical machine that
tattoos. Its basic design – moving coils, a
tube, and a needle bar – is still used to
today, so remember kids: That’s 19th
century technology they’re repeatedly
stabbing you with.
1944: In one of the
first instances of
legal trouble for the
tattoo world, Charlie
Wagner is fined by
the city of New York
for not sterilizing his
needles
1961: Hepatitis B makes
the tattoo not cool again,
an outbreak of which is
linked to tattoo parlors
in New York City.
Parlors are outlawed in
the Big Apple until 1997.
1999: Mattel
releases Butterfly
Art Barbie, a doll
with washable
body art.
2005: Popular culture
helps tattoos become
more popular in the
West than at any time
in recorded history,
with more than 45
million North
Americans having one.
SPRING 2012
15
INKLING OF CONCERN
Chemicals in tattoo inks face scrutiny
Brett Israel
16
ORIGINK
SPRING 2012
17
The End Is Near tattoo parlor in South Park Slope could pass for
one of the neighborhood’s upscale boutiques. Local artwork covers
the light blue walls. Ornate body jewelry fills a glass showcase. A
stuffed badger greets visitors. There’s just one thing that gives the
parlor away – the unmistakable electric hum of a tattoo needle.
“We’re not the seedy underground that used to be,” said Trischa, the shop’s one-named manager, whose fair skin, revealed by a
black tank top, is almost completely painted with ink.
As tattoo shops turn chic, ink’s allure has spread into the
mainstream. Despite the well-known risks of infection, allergies
and scarring, an estimated 45 million people in the United States –
including 36 percent of adults in their late 20s – have at least one
tattoo, according to estimates by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a Harris Interactive Poll.
Although sleazy “scratcher shops” with unskilled artists and
dubious safety records are becoming a thing of the past, scientists
are growing concerned about what’s going into tattooed skin, not
just how it got there.
New research has turned up troubling findings about toxic
chemicals in tattoo inks, including some phthalates, metals, and
hydrocarbons that are carcinogens and endocrine disruptors.
Tattoo ink trouble is nothing new. The inks, which are injected
into skin with small needles, have caused allergic rashes, chronic
skin reactions, infection and inflammation from sun exposure, said
Elizabeth Tanzi, co-director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, D.C.
Now a new study published in July suggests that phthalates and
other chemical ingredients may be responsible for those problems.
More concerning, these newfound chemicals raise unanswered
rare, perhaps coincidental cases where melanomas and other malignant tumors are found in tattoos.
Could these chemicals increase the risk of skin cancer in people
with tattoos? “It’s possible and definitely warrants additional investigation by the FDA,” Tanzi said.
Recently, the FDA launched new studies to investigate the
long-term safety of the inks, including what happens when they
break down in the body or interact with light. Research already has
shown that tattoo inks can migrate into people’s lymph nodes.
For now the long-term health risks – if any – from tattoo inks
remain murky.
“The short answer is we don’t know if the chemicals in tattoo
inks represent a health hazard,” said Joseph Braun, an environmental epidemiologist at Harvard University in Boston, Mass., who was
is not involved in the new studies.
In July, scientists reported their discovery that the chemical dibutyl
phthalate, a common plasticizer, along with other substances, are
found in black tattoo inks. In the study of 14 commercially available inks, they found low levels of dibutyl phthalate in all of them.
Tattoo ink trouble is nothing new. The inks, injected into skin
with small needles, have caused rashes, infection and inflammation.
But now scientists say the inks contain chemicals that could have
these chemicals increase the risk of
skin cancer in people with tattoos
questions about more serious, long-term risks such as skin cancer.
As tattoo shops turn chic, ink’s allure has spread into the mainstream. An estimated 45 million people in the United States, including more than one-third of people in their late 20s, have at least one
tattoo. One of the chemicals found in black tattoo inks – benzo(a)
pyrene – is a potent carcinogen that causes skin cancer in animal
tests. Dermatologists have published reports in medical journals on
18
ORIGINK
SPRING 2012
19
long-term effects.
“The substances found in the inks might be partially responsible
for adverse skin reactions to tattoos,” wrote the dermatologists
from Germany’s University of Regensburg.
For phthalates, which can mimic estrogen or disrupt testosterone, exposure of fetuses and infants is the major concern. In infant
boys, prenatal exposure to dibutyl phthalate has been linked to
feminization of the reproductive tract. In men, phthalate exposure
has been linked to sperm defects and altered thyroid hormones.
But phthalates in tattoo inks may not carry the same risk. “Phthalates are cleared from the body within hours, and unlike many
phthalate exposures, those from tattooing will not be continuous,”
said Shanna Swan, a reproductive epidemiologist at the Mount
Sinai School of Medicine in New York who studied the effects of
phthalates on infant boys.
Phthalates applied to the skin in a lotion were absorbed and
metabolized in a 2007 study, and the same thing is likely to happen
with phthalates in tattoo inks, Swan said.
“While this is a potential source of high exposure, it might not last
very long and may not present a risk to health,” Braun added.
Nevertheless, Swan said pregnant and nursing women should minimize any exposure to phthalates.
In addition to phthalates, heavy metals such as lead, which can
harm the reproductive and nervous systems, also were found in a
study of 17 different black inks from five manufacturers. Colored
inks often contain lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, titanium and
other heavy metals that could trigger allergies or diseases, scientists
say. Some pigments are industrial grade colors that are “suitable
for printers’ ink or automobile paint,” according to an FDA fact
sheet. Black tattoo inks, often made of soot, also contain products
of combustion called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs),
according to a 2010 study by the German scientists.
In addition to phthalates, heavy metals such as lead, which can
harm the reproductive and nervous systems, were found in a study
of black inks.
The PAHs in the inks include benzo(a)pyrene, which was identified in an Environmental Protection Agency toxicity report as
“among the most potent and well-documented skin carcinogens.” It
is so potent that it is routinely used in animal tests to grow tumors.
Also, it has been linked to skin cancer in shale oil workers, and the
EPA has classified it as a probable human carcinogen.
The FDA and scientists say colored inks often contain lead,
cadmium, chromium, nickel, titanium and other heavy metals. Some
are industrial grade colors suitable for printers’ ink or automobile
paint. Black tattoo inks often are made of soot so they contain
known carcinogens called PAHs. “Tattooing with black inks entails
an injection of substantial amounts of phenol and PAHs into skin.
Most of these PAHs are carcinogenic and may additionally generate
deleterious singlet oxygen inside the dermis when skin is exposed to
UVA (e.g. solar radiation),” wrote the study authors. They said the
PAHs could “stay lifelong in skin” and “may affect skin integrity,”
which could lead to skin aging and cancer.
Scientists are debating the possible tattoo-cancer link, based so
far on a handful of malignant skin tumors found in tattoos and
reported in medical literature.
“Even though cases of malignancies such as melanoma, basal
cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas and keratoacanthomas have been reported for the past 40 years, it remains unclear
what role tattoos play in their pathogenesis,” wrote scientists from
France’s University of Montpellier in a 2008 study, “Skin Cancers
Arising in Tattoos: Coincidental or Not?”
Dr. Wolfgang Bäumler, a dermatology professor at the University
of Regensburg who was involved in the phthalate and PAH studies,
said that “substances such as phthalates and also the PAHs should
IDENTIFIED
AS TOXIC?
The Less-Scary things in Ink: Making Pigments
BLACK
BROWN
RED
ORANGE
YELLOW
GREEN
BLUE
VIOLET
WHITE
IRON OXIDE
CARBON
LOGWOOD
OCHRE
CINNEBAR
CADMIUM RED
DISAZODIARYLIDE
CADMIUM SELENOSULFIDE
CADMIUM YELLOW
CHROME YELLOW
CHROMIUM OXIDE
CU PHTHALOCYANINE
COBALT BLUE
AZURE BLUE
DIOXAZINE
MANGANESE VIOLET
TITANIUM OXIDE
ZINC OXIDE
BARIUM SULFATE
LEAD WHITE
20
ORIGINK
SPRING 2012
21
increase the health risk” for chronic health problems such as cancer.
But the extent is unknown, Bäumler said, because “epidemiological
studies are missing.”
Epidemiological studies won’t be easy. In theory, scientists could
track a large number of tattooed people and see whether they developed problems such as skin cancer near their tattoos. But that’s
impractical, said Geoffrey Kabat, an epidemiologist at the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y.
That’s because getting a tattoo still is considered a risky behavior, and following a group of people who may have risk-taking
behaviors – smoking or riding motorcycles – would compromise a
study, Kabat said. “This would also make an epidemiologic study a
fool’s errand,” Kabat said.
The FDA has the power to regulate tattoo inks and any added
colorings under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. But the
agency has never flexed its regulatory power, citing lack of evidence
of safety concerns and other public health priorities.
“Because the dyes and inks used in tattoos have not been approved
by FDA, we do not know the specific composition of what these
inks and dyes may contain,” an FDA spokesperson told Environmental Health News. “Therefore, we are unable to evaluate for
chronic health concerns, such as cancer.”
Eric Blevens, who has nearly a dozen tattoos, including this one
of his pit bull Kweli, has never had skin problems except a slight
reaction to one color ink. Now, the FDA is getting curious about
the ingredients. In 2003 and 2004, the FDA received its largest cluster of complaints, more than 150, from people on the giving and
receiving end of tattoos. Since that time the FDA has begun more
research on tattoo inks to answer fundamental questions, according
to the FDA spokesperson.
One major question investigated by the FDA is where does the
ink go when the tattoo fades over time or from sun exposure? Preliminary results show that a common pigment in yellow tattoo inks,
Pigment Yellow 74, may be broken down by the body’s enzymes,
according to the FDA. Sunlight also breaks it down into colorless
components of unknown toxicity. Also, when skin cells containing
ink are killed by sunlight or laser light, the ink breakdown products
could spread throughout the body.
Previous studies have shown that tattoo inks move into people’s
lymph nodes, but “whether the migration of tattoo ink has health
consequences or not is still unknown,” according to a 2009 FDA
consumer update. Lymph nodes are part of the body’s system for
filtering out disease-causing organisms.
The FDA said “as new information is assessed, the agency
considers whether additional actions are necessary to protect public
health.” Because of the chemicals involved, California requires all
tattoo shops to warn customers. A state law, known as Prop 65,
requires warnings whenever people are exposed to chemicals linked
to cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. The warning
is included in the release forms that people sign before getting tattooed in California.
The lack of FDA regulation and the California warnings haven’t
slowed the tattoo business, where respected artists command
between $125 and $200 per hour. Artists today build relationships
with dedicated clients, who rarely ask about the long-term risks of
tattoo inks.
“I don’t have any clients that ask me that,” said tattoo artist
Jorell Elie of The Honorable Society in West Hollywood, Calif. “I
don’t really tattoo as many one-time clients anymore so most of my
clients are fully aware of any – if any – risks that go into getting tattoos.”
One of Elie’s clients, Eric Blevens, of Brooklyn, has nearly a
dozen tattoos. His latest, done by Elie, is a tribute to his pit bull,
22
ORIGINK
42 Americans Have Tattoos
24%
22%
1 Tattoo
18%
18%
11%
7%
+
named Kweli, and covers most of the left side of his torso. During
a recent vacation, Blevens said Elie constantly bugged him about
keeping his tattoos shielded from the sun, which could cause the art
to fade.
Aside from a small reaction to pink pigments, Blevens hasn’t
had any problems with tattoo inks and said he considers them safe.
Through his relationship with Elie, any safety concerns he may
have had in the past have faded.“I genuinely trust him,” Blevens
said. “He shows a lot of concern and care for his work.”
California requires all tattoo shops to warn customers that they
are being exposed to chemicals linked to cancer. The lack of FDA
regulations and the California warnings haven’t slowed the tattoo
business, where respected artists command between $125 and $200
per hour. Even people with more simple tastes don’t seem concerned about the safety of tattoo inks. Melissa Taylor, a 30-year-old
mother and banker in Warner Robins, Ga., said she hasn’t worried
much about her ink. She got a small butterfly tattoo, about the size
of a 50-cent piece, on her left hip when she was 19 and hasn’t had
any problems.
SPRING 2012
23
ANCIENT ART OF THE
JAPANESE TEBORI
TATTOO MASTERS
INK IN HARMONY
Taking off from JFK today for a two week
trip that will take me on a quick stop
at Tokyo, then on to Korea, China, and
finally Hong Kong. The zen and artistry of
Japanese tattoo has long fascinated me, and
with this trip, this post seemed only fitting.
Oguri, known in Japan as Horihide,
his tattooing name, is a famous artist and
highly regarded as the pioneer that brought
Japanese tattooing to American tattooists, like Sailor Jerry, and subsequently Ed
Hardy, after World War II. Thus setting the
stage for large Asian body suit tattoo design
to change the face of western tattooing
in the last half of the twenty first century.
Here in his own words is his story.
In old days, Japanese tattooists worked
at their own houses and ran business quietly
(without using the ads.). They didn’t put
24
ORIGINK
up a sign and list telephone numbers on the
book. The practice of tattooing was forbidden in Japan (until the end of World War
II). The customers used to find the tattoo
shops by word of mouth.
When I was an apprentice, feudal customs still existed in Japan. The apprenticeship was one of the feudal customs called
uchideshi in Japanese. Normally, pupils
lived with their masters, and were trained
for 5 years. After 5-year training, the pupils
worked independently, and gave the masters
money that he earned for one year. The oneyear service was called oreiboko in Japanese, the service to express the gratitude
towards the masters. The masters usually
told new pupils about this system, 5-yeartraining and 1-year service, when they
began the apprenticeship.
SPRING 2012
25
A Japanese artist works on
the back of a woman
There is
nothing to
replace
human skin.
you have to
learn by
using your
own body
26
ORIGINK
I slept at the master’s workplace when
I was a pupil. I wanted to be a great tattoo
artist as soon as possible. In the middle
of the night, I picked up the needles from
the master’s tool box, sat cross-legged and
practiced tattooing on my thigh without
the ink, remembering how my master
performed. I continued to practice tattooing without using the ink. I used a thick
bamboo stick for sujibori (outlining), which
was about 20 cm long. The edge of the
stick was sharpened, and 6-7 needles were
put in order and tied up by silk thread. The
length of the tip of needles was 3-4 mm.
I wanted to workas a tattooist soon, and
practiced incising both my thighs with the
bamboo stick every night after work. I did
not know how to use the tattooing tools
and how to adjust the angles. Sometimes
I penetrated the skin very deeply with the
needles, and the skin bled and swelled.
I could not tattoo by using the bamboo
stick as I wanted. During the daytime I did
chores. If I had no work during the day, I
would sit down on the left side of my master and watch his work from the distance.
Every customer came to the master by
appointment and got hitoppori. Hitoppori in Japanese means to get tattooed
for 2 hours each day. If a big tattoo was
to be done, the customer came by every
third day. I used to keep sitting straight
for 2 hours and just watching my master’s
hands learn his tattooing skills. The master
would say to me, “I’m not going to lecture
you. You steal my techniques by watching
me work.” Watching is the fastest way to
learn, rather than listening to the lecture, if
people really want to learn something. Even
though I was full of enthusiasm, my skills
were not improved easily. I couldn’t see any
progress at all.
One day, the master’s wife asked me
to split wood. (Pupils normally call the
master’s wife ane-san or okami-san. The
master’s wife looked so happy when I called
her ane-san. So I called her ane-san during
the apprenticeship.) One day while I was
splitting wood in the back yard, I got hotter
and hotter. I was in a sweat, and took off
my shirt and trousers. Ane-san came and
asked me to take a rest. She brought a cup
of tea for me. Then, Ane-san happened to
see my traces of the needles on the thighs.
She was surprised and said to me,
“How did you get scars on the thighs? Do
you practice tattooing by yourself?”
“Yes,” I answered, “but I cannot tattoo
well like the master does.”
“Have you ever seen my husband’s legs and
ankles?” she asked again.
“No.” I said.
She continued, “His whole legs are covered with tattoos. You know what I mean?
He told me that he practiced tattooing on
his legs with the ink when he was a pupil.
That’s why his legs are all black. He also
told me that a tattooist needs to learn by
tattooing his own body to become a professional tattooist. There is nothing to replace
human skin. So you have to learn tattooing
by using (tattooing) your body.”
After hearing this story, I remembered
the master had tattoos on his arms to wrists
but that I had never seen his bare feet. I
wondered if Ishould practice tattooing with
the ink. Otherwise I couldn’t’t get how the
SPRING 2012
27
Traditional Tebori
being practiced
ink was inserted into the skin. I decided to
master the techniques until my whole body
would be black. “I will never give it up. If
I give it up, I won’t be a true man.” Since
then, I practiced tattooing on any parts of
legs from the thighs to the ankles almost
every day. In order to keep practicing again
and again, I didn’t’ use the ink when practicing tattooing.
Today’s young people never understand
how tough the training was. I used to wake
up 5 a.m., and sweep the whole house
inside and out. I also wiped the floor with
a damp cloth. In winter, my hands were
numb with cold water and got chilblains.
My fingers were swollen. At meals, I was
allowed to have only one cup of soup and
one dish. A bowl of rice was also served.
Even though I wanted to eat more, I could
not eat enough because I was in training. It
was right after World War 2. Due to insufficiency of supplies, it was so hard for us to
get enough rice. We would eat a mixture of
rice and barley. I was only 19 and always
starving. It was tough experience.
Sometimes the master yelled at me
and even hit me. To endure such treatment
needs patience. Because of such unreasonable treatment, most pupils gave up and ran
away from the master. Of course, I often
wondered why he hit us. Although I had
anger towards the master, I could not talk
back. All I could do in the feudal period
was to obey what the master said. I was so
frustrated that I cried in bed so many times.
The master sometimes slapped me without
any reason. However, I found the master
purposely hit me and forced me to do overwork for my mental training after I became
a tattooist later on. I hated him so much
during the apprenticeship. Looking back
now, I am ashamed of having had such feelings towards my master.
When I was an apprentice, my master
taught me how to make tattooing needles.
Each tattooist has his own preferred way
of making needles. I put 7 needles in order,
and curve the tips of them. Then I make
a fan-shape with them. The middle of the
needles is set as the top of the fan, pulling
the rest of them down. The needles should
be arranged like the following figure and
soldered up.
When incising thin lines, I use 2 or 3
of 7 needles, which are the closest to the
hands, by adjusting the angle of the needles
with the skin. Normally when tattooing
the outline, I touch the skin with only the
middle of the group of needles.
To tattoo details, some tattooists use a
separate tool consisting of only 3 needles.
But the professional tattooists can tattoo
whatever they want, using only one set of
needles for outlining. They don’t have to
use other tattooing tools. They can tattoo
any thin or thick lines, small circles and
so on. The professional tattooists tattoo
the designs on the skin smoothly, from up
to down, down to up, right to left, left to
right. When I need more ink after tattooing
from left to right, for example, I do kaeshibari, flipping the needles. Kaeshibari is one
of techniques, which is flipping the other
side of the needles and tattooing by using
the rest of the ink on the other side.
Horimono means “tattoo” in Japanese.
Hori or horu is “to incise” or “to dig” and
mono means “things.” Tattooing is similar
to engraving a sculpture. A tattoo is not a
picture. It is supposed to be appreciated at a
distance of several years. What is expressed
by the tattoo should be clearly recognized
from a distance. If the tattoo is too detailed,
it can hardly be seen from a distance. Like
sculptures, tattoos need to be rough and
drastic to some extent. Such tattoos are
more attractive to people. I can see why
tattoos need to be bold after the work is
finished.
Tattooing by hand, Tebori, requires
MOST PUPILS
GIVE UP
28
ORIGINK
SPRING 2012
29
30
ORIGINK
SPRING 2012
31
As long as
I can move
my hands,
I will keep
tattooing.
32
ORIGINK
and tattoo a line about one centimeter long.
This same step is done continuously during
sujibori (outlining).I keep the same speed
(rhythm) to tattoo no matter what kind of designs or shapes, such as circles, squares and
lines, are tattooed. I draw the outlines step
by step on each part of the body, such as the
shoulders, the arms and the back, and finally
finish the art work on the body. Then the full
body tattoo is completed.
For bokashibori (shading), sets of 12
and 13 needles are prepared, and each set
is made in the shape of a fan and soldered.
The set of 12 needles is put under the set
of 13 needles and staggered by pulling the
set of 12 needles back a little bit. When I
do bokashibori , I insert the ink into the skin
at an angle which corresponds to the angle
made by the two sets of needles. I have to
adjust the strength of the stroke by using
both 12-set needles and 13-set needles. If
I use either one or the other, the ink cannot
be inserted into the skin properly. The lower
12-set needles has to be used carefully, like
touching the needles on the skin gently. It’s
very difficult to master how to use those
tattoo needles, especially the lower set
of needles.
Today, we Japanese tattooists order
tattooing needles from the factory. However,
when I was a pupil, I would make tattooing
needles by using the thinnest sewing needles. Many of them did not have good quality
points. One package had 25 needles, and
a half of them were no good. In those days,
we used the ink called sakurazumi. Now we
use baikaboku for tattooing, which is made
of soot of cooking oil. The ink for calligraphy,
which is made of soot of resin, is not suitable
for tattooing, because the color does not
last long.
Those needles were often stolen by
customers. I assume that some other tattooists asked them to pretend to be customers
and to steal my tools, in order to know how
I made the tattooing needles. Although I
understood that they had eager feelings to
learn professional tattooing, I was so angry
with the attitudes. When I was tattooing, I put
my tool box beside me. While I was away (going to bathroom, for example), they stole my
needles. It is not difficult to steal them. After
all, I prepare the necessary needles only
when I need them. I usually lock the door
of my studio after work. Electric machines,
color inks, my drawings (about 120 designs)
for the back have all been stolen at various
times. The tattoo designs were especially
important for me. I had drawn many designs
and collected them for a long time. I am
so frustrated whenever I remember those
incidents and think how much time I spent
on the drawings.
Tattooists who have not been apprenticed and trained by tattoo masters do not
know the reasons or meanings of the traditional designs. For example, there are four
seasons (spring, summer, fall and winter)
in Japan. The seasons should be expressed
in tattoo art as well. Real Japanese tattoo
artists express each season on the skin.
However, the untrained tattooists do not
know traditional thoughts on Japanese art.
The untrained tattooists draw a snake and
cherry blossoms, but this is a wrong way in
tradition. When cherry trees begin to bloom
in March in Japan, the snake still hibernates
under the ground. So the snake and cherry
blossom cannot be seen in the same period.
In other words, it does not make any sense if
the snake and cherry blossoms are
drawn together.
Some tattooists draw a carp climbing up
the waterfall together with peonies. Actually, we can see the carp climbing up the
waterfall from the late September to October
in Japan. It is supposed to go with maple
leaves, not peonies. (The symbol of maple
leaves refers to the autumn.) When hutatsugoi (twin carp) and huhugoi (a married couple
carp) are drawn, two carp (one carp for
the arm, for example) can go with peonies,
because we do not have to express seasons
in these cases. There are several traditional
combinations: Karajishi, which is a combination Shishi (lion) with botan (peonies), and
ryu (dragon) with kiku (chrysanthemum)
and menchirashi (men means “a mask,”
and chirashi or chirasu means “to scatter”)
with cherry blossoms. Those images are
particular sets for Japanese traditional tattoo
designs.
I am very happy with my job and love it.
As long as I can move my hands, I will keep
tattooing. I thank my master very much.
Without his teachings, I could not have been
a tattooist. I will never forget the gratitude
towards the master forever.
SPRING 2012
33