The encyclopedia
Motifs
Each motif in traditional Japanese tattoo carries weight. What looks decorative is, almost always, a sentence. Here's what they're saying.
flowers
animals
Kitsune/Fox
The fox that walks between worlds — trickster, messenger, and shapeshifter.
Crane
The bird that lives a thousand years — guardian of loyalty, longevity, and good fortune.
Hawk
The samurai's bird — a piercing gaze, a predator's instinct, and the symbol of those bold enough to rule.
Tiger
The mightiest of beasts — a creature Japan never saw but never stopped imagining, and the samurai's ultimate symbol of power.
Snake
Neither fully good nor fully evil — the snake sheds its skin, guards its shrine, and has been both worshipped and feared since the earliest days of Japanese myth.
Octopus
Physician to the sea dragon, subject of Japan's most notorious woodblock print, and one of irezumi's most visually dynamic creatures.
Koi
Symbol of resistance, determination, and ultimate success — the fish that fights the current to become a dragon.