It has taken for few years to report and compile for a book, "TATTOO IN JAPAN" including bold colored photographs from Tokyo's traditional tattoo by the tebori master to Osaka's more pop and fashion-oriented tattoos which are intended to be "shown" to the others, and tattoo patterns from the head to the toes, and furthermore to the entire body. You will fully enjoy more than 200 tattoos, reflecting the modern tattoo culture in Japan.
Each people's skin is a canvas for showcasing the vividly highlighted pattern of tattoos. In those patterns, shooting in close-up, you are able to see artisan-like exquisite details towards their "representation" of the tattoo works. Turning over pages, it seems each vibrantly tattooed portrait shows both inside and outside of his/her "pattern" of life.
One of the tebori (tattooing by hand) masters, Horitoku explains in the book that as far as he knows, there might be only 3 of the tebori tattooist in Tokyo. The number of "masters", who can follow their experienced craftsmanship in the future, have been decreasing not only in the fields of traditional arts and crafts, but also in the tattoo world. "TATTOO IN ART" starts its page with photographs of the Horitoku's studio work and his tattoo "works". You will recognize his powerfulness as a tattoo artisan in his eyes when tattooing. At the same time, from his sedate and warm looking, you will find a mixture of his pride as a tattooist and his love to his tattoo works. Inserting colors under the skin little by little for a dark-color-outlined dragon is likely to breathe life into the lying dragon.
