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Irezumi (入れ墨, lit. ' inserting ink ') (also spelled 入墨 or sometimes 刺青) is the Japanese word for tattoo, and is used in English to refer to a distinctive style of Japanese tattooing, though it is also used as a blanket term to describe a number of tattoo styles originating in Japan, including tattooing traditions from both the Ainu people and the Ryukyuan Kingdom.
By the early 21st century, tattoos were stigmatized in Japanese culture, and many Japanese associated them with the Yakuza. [4] However, there was a movement to revive the practice as a symbol of female empowerment and of their Ryukyuan cultural heritage. [ 4 ]
Nakano was inspired when he saw a Yakuza (Japanese gangster) with a full-body tattoo in a public bathhouse when he was a young boy, "about eleven or twelve." [3] This inspired him to visit legendary tattoo artist Yoshitsugu Muramatsu, also known as Shodai Horiyoshi of Yokohama. [4]
The Japanese word irezumi means "insertion of ink" and can mean tattoos using tebori, the traditional Japanese hand method, a Western-style machine or any method of tattooing using insertion of ink. The most common word used for traditional Japanese tattoo designs is horimono . [ 8 ]
Chinese dragon mythology is the source of Japanese dragon mythology. Japanese words for "dragon" are written with kanji ("Chinese characters"), either simplified shinjitai 竜 or traditional kyūjitai 龍 from Chinese long 龍. These kanji can be read tatsu in native Japanese kun'yomi, [b] and ryū or ryō in Sino-Japanese on'yomi. [c] Many ...
Sculpture of Raijin from Sanjūsangen-dō temple in Kyoto. Kamakura period, 13th century. Raijin (雷神, lit. "Thunder God"), also known as Kaminari-sama (雷様), Raiden-sama (雷電様), Narukami (鳴る神), Raikō (雷公), and Kamowakeikazuchi-no-kami is a god of lightning, thunder, and storms in Japanese mythology and the Shinto religion. [1]
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The name Kuraokami combines kura 闇 "dark; darkness; closed" and okami 龗 "dragon tutelary of water". This uncommon kanji (o)kami or rei 龗, borrowed from the Chinese character ling 龗 "rain-dragon; mysterious" (written with the "rain" radical 雨, 3 口 "mouths", and a phonetic of long 龍 "dragon") is a variant Chinese character for Japanese rei < Chinese ling 靈 "rain-prayer ...