As the power of the common people of Japan grew in the latter half of the Edo period (18th and 19th century CE) horimono, or traditional Japanese tattoos, began to flourish as an art form. Based on images from watercolour paintings, woodcuts and popular picture books of the time, the ultimate reward for the long endurance of pain would be a tattoo of immense beauty. To fully understand Japanese horimono it is important to understand their history and background, and it is equally important to continue to preserve the tradition behind them.

The origins of horimono can be traced to the late Edo period. In 1603, the then ruler of Japan Tokugawa Ieyasu centralised his shogunate government in Edo, what is now Tokyo. In the 200-year period following this, the established feudal system based on the authority of the ruling samurai class began to stagnate, and in contrast to the martial upper class the commoners of Edo began to develop their own separate, unique culture for themselves.

Rejecting the centuries-old strict ethics and morality of the Confucian beliefs of the samurai and taking up themes based on ninjō, fashion and comedy, the townspeople of Edo increasingly began to enjoy culture such as novels, drama, comic tanka songs and theatre. Works such as Chikamatsu Monzaemon's Kokusenya Kassen, Ayatari Tatebe's Honchō Suikoden and Kyokutei Bakin's Nansō Satomihakkenden and many other publications based on ninjō, comedy and drama, picture books and artwork such as ukiyoe all combined into a massive, never-seen-before outlet of cultural expression for the ordinary people of Edo.

In this way the society of Edo developed, and the pride and mentality of the common people, exemplified by the otokodate, and the shokunin-kishutsu (the mindset or way of thinking of the merchant and artesan classes, such as the tobishoku) grew amongst ordinary people such as labourers, manufacturers, hikeshi (firemen) and gaen. Among these working class people, a minority began to imitate their heroes of the Suikoden, as popularised at the time in ukiyoe picture books by the famous artist Kuniyoshi, and ritualistically and painfully tattooed themselves with designs based on folklore, such as ryū (dragons), orochi (giant snakes) and shishi (Chinese snow-lions), and also religious figures such as various aspects of the Buddha, Fudōmyō (Buddhist deity Acalantha), Fūjin and Raijin (the Gods of Wind and Lightning) and Kannon (Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion), using sharp needles to insert pressed charcoal ink, called sumi, into their skin.

The artists who carried out the tattooing tended to be ukiyoe woodblock carvers, who simply exchanged their wood-carving blades for long, sharp needles. Over the years, some of these artists gave up ukiyoe, became devoted to tattooing, and would become specialised tattoo artists. Thus the special, uniquely Japanese traditional art form known as horimono came to be.

There are written records indicating that in Edo as early as 1830 there were formal gatherings and meetings of tattoo enthusiasts. Although nowadays tattoo 'conventions' are quite common both in Japan and in the West, the fact that in Edo such conventions were taking place over 160 years ago is indicative of the long and rich history of horimono.

Tamabayashi Haruo describes the tattoos of the Edo, Meiji and Shōwa eras in his classic 1936 work, Bunshin Hyakushi, or One Hundred Aspects of Tattoos.

In the book, the life and works of some of the famous tattooists of the Edo period are described, such as Karakusa Gonta, Ichimatsu and Chiyaribun (from Asakusa), Darumakin and Iso (Yanaka), Horitsun (Kameido), Kane (Yotsuya) and Hori-ichi (Ōsaka). However, there is no photographic record of their works and designs, so one must go by their considerable word-of-mouth reputation.

There is one artist whose work has been extensively photographed however, and deserves a mention. Horiuno was born Kamei Unosuke in Kanda, Edo, in 1843. At that time, horimono were undergoing a surge in popularity amongst the townspeople of Edo.

Horiuno became a tattoo artist at the age of 20, but travelled extensively throughout Japan, such as Ōsaka, Kyoto and Shizuoka, and only really began working full-time from the age of 40. However, he continued his business well into his 70's and much of his work can still be seen today. Many of his customers were workers in the local construction industry and in 1912 some of these people in the Kanda area formed the Kanda Chōyūkai, literally the Tattoo Friends' Society of Kanda, and 10 years later, extended membership to those outside Kanda, to form the Edo Chōyūkai.

The members of this group, who were mostly labourers such as construction workers, carpenters and plasterers, would meet every year at places such as Ōjinanushi-no-taki and Maruko Tamagawaen, to take part in mass outdoor banquets, or in festivals such as the Asakusa Sanja-matsuri (the Three-Shrine Festival of Asakusa) proudly showing off their extensive and intricate bCopyright © 2003 Horimono: The Japanese Tattoo. All Rights of Reproduction Reservedody tattoos.

Horiuno was well known throughout Japan and also overseas, and was said to be Japan's most talented tattoo artist. However, at that time a wealth of equally-skillful tattooists, such as Horikane, Kyūta and Nekokichi, could be found throughout Japan.

Copyright © 2000 - 2003 Horimono: The Japanese Tattoo. All Rights of Reproduction Reserved. This article was published in July 1998 in the Japanese magazine Burst. It was written by Kunihiro Shimada of the Japan Tattoo Institute and translated by and published with permission by Horimono: The Japanese Tattoo. It is intended to be a brief overview of the history of Japanese tattoo culture. Please respect both the wishes of the author and copyright law and refrain from republishing its contents on commercial websites or other such for-profit organisations; for critical review or academic research please acknowledge this website.