Traditional Japanese tattoos are intricate pageants of rich design. An art that has matured into perfection, Japanese tattooing originated
from the woodblock prints of the late Edo period (1804-1868). The Japanese technique is
called tebori (“to carve by hand”) — using bundled needles at the end of a
bamboo stick to insert charcoal ink into the skin. The technique of tebori matured into
the chiaroscuro (dark and light) coloring and shading of the Japanese tattoo we know today.
Asian-style tattoos are no longer created using tebori and are characterized by
Chinese and Japanese imagery. Images frequently used in Asian art include cranes,
dragons, fish, tigers, samurai warriors and Buddhist deities. Kanji (Japanese
writing characters adapted from Chinese characters) are also a feature of Asian-style tattoos.
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