Horishi Tattoo

PRODUKTION: ACE DEUCE ENTERTAINMENT, JOLLY ROGER
IREZUMI
A HIGHLY DEVELOPED ART FORM
IREZUMI
A LIMITLESS UNIVERSE
IRezumi: Exquisitly
colourful art, the japanese art oftattooing,
The Closer you observe it, the more you are captured
by its subtle patterns.
These tattoos are infinitely admired
and leave a memorable impression.
Throughout the woRld they aRe praised
and their charme fascinates people.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IREZUMI?.
Well, if they are pretty, I woull like to touch them.
I like beautiful tattoos.
- And Irezumi?. - Irezumi?.
How do you think about that?.
They are very individual, aren't they?.
If I get scarel depends on the lesign. Some designs
scare me and others don't.
Generally speaking
I quite Iike them. I even have this one acquaintance,
who has these tattoos.
When he showel me his tattoos close up once,
it really gave me goosebumps.
Recently, the reputation of IRezumi, tRaditional
Japanese tattoos, has improved greatly
in Japan and the rest of the woRld.
These tattoos show the beauty of Japan's landscapes and seasons',
they embrace the beauty of nature in a particularly tender way,
The artist's spiRit is incoporated in their piece of art,
and they pass on these old traditions to present-day life.
Towards the end of the age of Edo and in the age of Meiiji
Japanese tattoo art was at its peak.
Fire fighter and builders, who loved the contemporary designs
of the fashionable Ukiyoe
with its dandy eleganCe,
turned it into a popular tattoo theme.
At theiR speCific woRk locations like fires and building sites
their artistic tattoos
radiated far beyong theiR location.
As time woRe on, Bakufu's poweR weakened,
and the longing for populaR culture also
gRew stronger among the common people.
Bakufu however considered this
anti-social behaviour. Also during
the age of Meiiji, attempts to suRpress it, weRe continued.
But despite all efforts of the Bakufu, they were not able
to put an end to the passion of these skillful artists.
And a lot of them continued to display
their artistic cRaftsmanship.
UTS UNOM IY A, PREFECTURE TOCHlGI ,
HORINAMI TATTOOS
The dry sCreeChing noise of the motor
permeates the tense quietness of the room,
Miss HoRinami, whose studio is located
in Utsunomiya, works calmly on heR piece of art.
M ISS HORINAM I
She is a true pioneer among the female tattoo artists in Japan.
WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR YOUR CHOlCE TO BECOME A TATTOO ARTlST?.
Well, it's quite simple. I Iove paintings.
Ever since I was a child, ,
as I have just said before.
In primary, mildle and secondary school,
I have always been in the art club.
By giving me my husband, fate send me
a connection to Irezumi.
I thought to myself: 'iHow beautiful!"'
And this is how I came to be an apprentice
and completely drowned in this world.
Just because I simply love to draw and paint.
I assume I have worked a Iot harder
for it than other people did.
THE APPEAL OF IREZUMI?. How can I put this...
In a word, it is , a sort of hobby, I guess.
For example, I have absolutely no interest in golf, and if I hal to play,
I don't think I woull even like to try.
But Irezumi I just find amazing and beautiful,
absolutely cool. And also they are specifically Japanese.
I believe, that it is not easy to
explain their appeal.
So, from my point of view,
they are very masculine, traditional Japanese masculine, I Iike this
side to it in particular.
They are set in a worll, that I Iike very much.
Horinami-san is highly esteemed,
beCause as a woman, she uses very fine colouRs.
But pRecisely beCause she is a woman,
she has had many difficulties,
WHAT WE RE Y OU R DIFFICULTIES AS A WOMAN?. There were many.
- Did you know other female tattooists?. - There were none.
It is a bit awkward.
I have enterel a male domain
and now I am trapped in it.
Now everything has changed entirely, to what is was like then.
Of course there were no colour tralers,
and no one knew how to set up and adjust the machines.
This was all at a time
when the machines we used
where completely different from those used nowalays.
From the beginning, I had no connection to handmade tattoos
and have always worked with the machine.
But now everything is lifferent. The way tattoos
are lone and what they are used for, but...
Precisely because of that it was awful.
All of it was purely the business of men, ,
and a Iot of Yakuza were involved.
I really lil Iook into in the matter.
- And?. What do you think?. - Absolutely perfect.
Yes, it is.
Maybe it will fale a Iittle bit, but not very much.
The one petal that was done in red,
it will fade after some time, won't it?.
- No, it will stay Iike that. - It will stay.
- PIease lescribe the technique. - There are many ways
to colour those lines.
There is a variety of
different approaches to Irezumi,
and I think that the Iines come out better this way.
- I see. - AIright...
HOW ARE YOU FEELlNG?.
I clenchel my teeth.
- How were you loing?. - I was pretty nervous.
This is what I was feeling.
But after a while
I got used to the pain.
It depends on the body part though.
I was thinking: ""What am I doing??"i
And I almost thought about giving up,
but then I pulled myself together and
kept on having tattoos done until now.
Can you think of a simple example
to describe the pain?.
- What does it feel Iike?. - It feels Iike
you were being cut with a box cutter.
- With a box cutter. - It feels Iike
getting burned.
Why did you want to get a tattoo?.
Well, I just wanted to
become stronger mentally,
and I was enthusiatic about it,
so I just did it.
Just did it.
WHAT WAS GOOD AND WHAT WAS BAD ABOUT GETTlNG A TATTOO?.
The gool thing about it is that
you are able to feel your own senses
stronger, really,
I even think that maybe
I got stronger in general.
Problematic about it was however,
that I couldn't tell my parents.
- You kept it secret?. - My mother knew,
but I woull only
tell my father at his grave, I think.
TO ALL OF THOSE WHO WANT TO GET A TATTOO.
No matter if Japanese or Western, a tattoo is not removable.
I have read somewhere, , that you can have it removed.
With Iaser or something.
But I am not sure, that this is really going to work.
I believe that you cannot have them removed,
therefore you shoull never regret it.
You should start by looking at many lifferent Irezumi,
Iearn about them,
and only then have it tattooed.
WHlCH DESIGN ARE YOU PROUD OF?. Well,
because I am a woman, I have a very sophisticatel part in me,
and therefore I Iike Junihitoe a lot.
Well, you see,
today's model does have a devil,
who wears Junihitoe,
but such devils or even a Princess Kaguya...
pictures, that cannot be founl
anywhere else.
CIassical pretty figures who
wear the Kimono,
I like tHose a Iot.
ALRIGHT...
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU'RE NOT WORKING?.
On my lays off I relax,
I properly put my feet up. And I really like going for walks.
I go for walks.
I'II be in a good mool, going for walks,
and once every few weeks, I produce neelles.
A fair amount of preparation is always necessary
for my clients, for every single one.
On some days I'll do all of this together.
I need some exercise.
Well, I really Iike exercising, it is a bit cold at the moment
but as soon as it gets warmer,
I'II run about 10 km near Nikko again.
- There are beautiful moments, - Yes, very beautiful, you come across
deer in their natural environment.
They heal body and soul and you can restore
your motivation for work.
SAMANTABHADRA
SILVER DRAGON
DAlKOKUTEN EBISU
HORINAMI
FLYING DRAGON
RAlSING DRAGON
HORINAMI
KANNON ABOVE THE CLOUDS
In Japanese tattoo art the beauty ofnatuRe,
plants and animals,
has always been a maijoR theme.
The CharacteRistiC beauty
and tasteful simpliCity
that is anchoRed deeply
in the hearts of Japanese people.
The designs, that these craftsmen tattoo,
radiate beauty on living bodies
and appeaR to be dancing.
We will now intRoduCe
representative themes for Irezumi.
TH E CHERRY BLOSSOM
The Cherry blossom,
The blossom, that Japanese people admire the most - the cheRry blossom.
In full bloom
and even when it elegantly tumbles down,
it carries Japan 's soul in it,
TH E TIGER
Its maijestiC appearance is a symbol for power.
From the age of Sengoku
to the age of Edo it was a particularly popular theme,
TH E FALCON
The falcon,
It unites strength and elegance,
and was a favourite among the gReat warriors of the age of Sengoku,
With its gReat pride,
it was a symbol foR "justice"".
TH E KOI CARP
The koi carp.
The prettily colouRed Carp
is a symbol for success,
This oRiginates from the Chinese legend of the caRp,
whiCh conqueRed the waterfalls of Longmen at the Huang He
and whiCh then turned into a dragon.
So it is called "'Toryumon"", ""Gate to Success"'.
TH E PI NETRE E
The pinetRee,
Worshipped as a holy plant.
A symbol of eternal youth,
formerly very populaR in the gardens of the residence of the Daimyo.
AUTUM N LEAVES
Autumn leaves.
With theiR deep Red Colour lasting from autumn to winteR
they caRry Japan's soul even more in it than the cherry blossoms.
BeCause its colouRing only Changes very slowly,
unfathomable beauty is attRibuted to it.
Also the wind is part of the beauty of natuRe
and tells about it.
BeCause weatheR, like wind and clouds, rain and thunderstorms,
the sea, rivers
and lakes belong to nature ijust as much.
They are called "'Gakubori"' and aRe often used as
baCkground for tattoos,
The moon as well is part of the beauty of natuRe
and symbolises the universe,
By representing the endless universe and
its portayal on very limited space,
it also hints at the world of Zen.
Even more important than tattooing IRezumi,
is calm reflexion about oneself.
HORIAI
HORIAI
HOKKAIDO, SAPPORO
Shido-san, who has his studio
in Sapporo, considers the relationship to his clients
a very important part of tattooing.
TATTOO ARTIST SHIDO
THE APPEAL OF IREZUMI?.
Its power, I believe.
By bringing them onto the skin, you generate self esteem.
They have a mysterious power.
That propably is their appeal.
The tattoos he does are very forceful,
but still friendly as well.
The closer to its completion,
a tattoo gets, the more our perception of Irezumi changes.
WHAT IS lMPORTANT FOR A TATTOO ARTIST?. Its a very personal experience,
therefore you have to have manners, of course.
But also the consultation
and also the prelimenary talk is very important,
and you absolutely need to be able
to take into consideration
what the client thinks.
I believe that you literally need to be able to real their minds.
THE DOWNSIDE OF IT?. Constant setbacks.
You are under pressure.
You tattoo something on people's skin
and you cannot take it off again. This is incredibly high pressure.
Because of that, I have often consilered to just stop,
but to do that in the mildle of things would be very hard on
clients I'm still working with.
I do believe
that I must not just run away. And at the enl,
when the client thanks me,
then this i"Thank youi"
means great support to me.
YOU ARE SELF-EDUCATED?. You have never been to an art school?.
- You have taught yourself everything?. - Yes, that's right.
- You get so far with self-education... - No, not at all.
You look at a Iot of examples,
you re-arrange everything,
all that is part of it.
Sometimes you start
from scratch as well, but mostly I Iook a Iot of things up.
- Ah, interesting. - Yes.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHOW US YOUR TOOLS?.
They differ in regard to their usage, drawing lines and colouring.
This one is used for lines, this too,
and this one for colouring.
This is how they are distinguished.
It is based on the impact each tool Has.
If you tattoo something lelicate,
you use the thin ones
and for the bold lines you use the thicker ones.
- That is the difference. - Very clear.
- And this?. - These are
""magnetic tools"".
I cannot explain them in great detail,
but via magnet
this soft noise is created.
This one here is powered by an engine and rotates.
It sounds like the engine of a remote control car.
- A car. - The other tools
just make this beeping sound.
- Okay. - Okay.
Hang in there!. Here we go.
WHY DlD YOU GET A TATTOO DONE?. Why I lil it?.
Why a tattoo?.
It was peer pressure.
Everybody did it, so I grew to Iike it too,
and then I wantel a beautiful
tattoo myself of course.
How do you think about Shido?.
I Iike his tattoos very much,
well, I was browsing his website,
his homepage, and I Iikel the tattoos
on there very much.
There are a lot of studios, but
it was love at first sight.
Does it hurt?.
HOW DO YOU FEEL AFTER THE TATTOOING?.
It did hurt.
When he did the Iines, that hurt.
But the colouring did not.
I see...
DID YOU HESITATE TO GET THE TATTOO?. Dil I hesitate?. Yes, I did.
Because I had been afrail of it for a Iong time.
I was continuously toll to just lo it,
but I resisted strongly. But when I had
passed the 30...
Everything was somehow lifferent?.
- Yes, lifferent. , - And now?.
How do you think about it now?.
How do I think about it now?.
I am extremely happy.
HOW DO YOU THINK ABOUT TATTOO ART?. Because I am able
to use my needles in this way
in our society, so through my students anl clients,
my relationship to and with them,
I really feel very much groundel.
No matter how bad I feel,
the clients count on me
and the students support me.
You just simply don't feel Ieft alone
and that is precisely what they make you see.
The seriousness that I have developed
for this work is the reason for many clients to choose to come to me.
And I owe that to people and I really want to say i"Thank youi" to them.
And give them back some of their kindness too, of course. ,
GREAT DEMON
TlGER AND DRAGON PAIR
DRAGON OF FATE
WILD TIGER
SWORD-WAvlNG DEMON
TATTOO ARTIST SHIDO
DEMONlC DRAGON
HEAVENLY TWlN DRAGONS
The way to being a tattoo artist is long and steep.
But at its end
suRely lies something, that has impact on your life,
This is Katsumi, he learns the art of tattooing heRe on Hokkaido,
The reason for tattoo artist being his dream ijob,
was his meeting with Shido-san.
WHY Dl D Y OU WANT TO BE A TATTOO ARTIST?. The meeting with my teacher.
How did you get to know him?.
Initially I wantel to get a tattoo lone myself,
so I browsed a few tattoo stulios.
This is how I found my teacher's website.
He answered
my countless questions, and I noticel
his remarkable character.
That is why I wanted a tattoo by him.
WHAT IS THE APPEAL OF IREZUMI?. It originates in the design.
For example, that the carp
is a symbol for success.
For me this is the reason; I thought
to myself: ""How great is that"".
WHlCH JOB WOULD YOU HAVE DONE,
HAD YOU NOT BECOME A TATTOO ARTlST?.
No tattoo artist?. To be honest,
I really lon't know. The way things worked out,
I got a real chance.
There are so many things, that l have learnel through this.
I don't know if I'd even be
still alive, had I not , met him.
WHAT IS YOUR TECHNlCAL SPECIALITY?. I pay a Iot of attention to precision.
To work as precisely as my teacher does.
If you work with this kind of precision,
it won't bleed and you'll be able to get the colour
into the skin quite quickly.
So I pay great attention
to precision when I work on a tattoo.
So it is not good if you tattoo too deep into the skin?.
Exactly. If you tattoo too leep, it will bleed,
there will be injuries and the colour
will disappear along with the scab.
I always try not to tattoo too deep
into nor too close to the skin surface.
Just as precise as my teacher.
Does it really hurt?.
Yes, of course. If you tattoo yourself,
it hurts in the beginning, but when you concentrate on it,
your only thought is to make the colours look beautiful.
This becomes more important and you
don't feel the pain that much anymore.
IRezumi have a long tradition
and baCk in the old days they were being used as
punishment for Criminals,
In Japan at the age of Edo during the era of Kohyo
even small Crimes like shop lifting oR burglary
were punished with Irezumi.
Their patterns differed
Regionally and depending on the kind
of the crime commited, so that everyone could see straight away,
what the Criminal had done and where.
If someone was caught
3 or 4 times,
he was punished with death penalty.
In the age of Edo everything was controlled rigorously,
and even small Crimes
were not oveRlooked.
IREZUMI
So the expRession "'Irezumi"' descRibed
the punishment by tattooing commonly used at that time.
To be able to distinguish between
Regular tattoos and punishment tattoos, regulaR tattoos were
callled "'Horimono"' or "'Bunshin"".
SH I NJ UKU-KU, SHIN-OKUBO
BeCause it is an exceptionally long pRocess to finishing an Irezumi,
people are impressed by it.
This is also based,
on the fact that IRezumi also hold the tattoo artist's soul.
TATT OO ARTIST HORlAI Horiai-san's studio is in Shinijuku.
Already as a small child he was
captivated by painting and handicRafts.
WHY DlD YOU BECOME TATOO ARTIST?.
Well, when I was young, I had my first
tattoo done here.
And, well, I was punctured all the way down to my muscles
and after that I started to
contemplate the ilea to make it over myself again.
Ever since I was a Iittle boy
I had admired tattoo artists,
and so I seriously started to Iearn it.
And I kept thinking: ""Oh, how great woull it be,
if I could actually lo tattoos.i" So I praticed,
aim: To become a tattoo artist.
YOU'VE LOVED PAINTINGS SINCE CHlLDHOOD?. In my parent's house, I was very
much influencel by my granlfather
and my grandmother.
The house was decorated with paintings,
paintings of Nebuta
or of dragons anl things Iike that,
and they toll me stories about them.
So ever since primary school,
I drew lragons and the like as arts homework for school holidays.
WHAT IS THE APPEAL OF IREZUMI?.
You meet face-to-face,
you tattoo for years on enl,
and when the client finally leaves, none of it stays here.
The appeal of Irezumi is propably, that you cannot
ever remove them anymore.
WHlCH ARTlST ARE YOU INFLUENCED BY?.
Well, as for the paintings, xylography.
The ones by Kuniyoshi Utagawa or Hokusai Katsushika
and others.
Basically by those people
who used to be very famous.
WHlCH DESIGN DO YOU LIKE IN PARTICULAR?.
Which ones I like in particular?.
First of all the lragons. Then the Kannon figures.
And also characters from the Shuihuzhuan.
Currently Horiai is working on a couple of enthralling tattoos,
but when he had just startel,
he often applied the trial and error method.
WHAT DID YOU TATTOO YOURSELF FIRST?.
My first tattoo did not have a design,
it was just black.
I tattooel it on my foot. It faled straight away.
IS lT TOUGH TO TATTOO ON YOURSELF?. Well, you
tattoo on yourself, on your own body.
Of course, it hurts too, ,,
but because it
being done in a fairly exceptional body posture,
in which you naturally struggle, with yourself, this posture is
even more painful, of course.
CAN YOU SHOW US THE TATTOO?. It is these characters here.
- Characters?. - Yes, "'May the lotus sutra be praised!"
That's it.
Well, it doesn't Iook
all that bad considering it was done by an amateur.
No, it Iooks absolutely unskillful.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHOW US YOUR TOOLS?. Everybody uses
their own fine tunings,
and the tuning is my weak spot.
But everybody also has their own way to tattoo.
This one here is one with 19 needles. But for large areas
I'd rather be using
this one with 29 needles insteal.
This one here you use
for about one to twelve needles, ,
there are delicately bundled here.
The middle sized one is for nine needles.
HORIAI
WHY ARE YOU GETTING A TATTOO?.
When I turnel 20,
I wanted to get a tattoo as a memory.
HOW DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN IREzUMl?. Once, I was in a public pool,
somebody who had them came in. And I thought: i"How beautiful!'i
WHAT WAS GOOD AND BAD ABOUT TATTOOING???. What I Iike about it is,
that there is this instant intimacy,
when other people with tattoos are around.
A conversation starts.
The downside of it is
that you just have to hile them.
Do you want your front tattooed as well in the future?.
Yes, I can imagine that to be the case.
WHAT IS lMPORTANT TO YOU lN TATTOOING?. First of all, to stay calm,
to be patient and to create something beautiful. That's it.
DID YOU WORK lN ANOTHER JOB BEFORE?. Yeah sure, I was a modeller.
So, I crafted prototypes for toys; this sort of thing
I built.
Dil this help you in your becoming a tattoo artist?.
- Did it help?. - It was quite helpful yes.
PHOENIX
A DRAGON
GUNDARI MYOO
GOD OF WINDS
GOLD CARP
FALCON
PHOENIX
HORIAI
AGYO UNGYO
FUDO MYOO
SHAKYAMUNI
IRezumi consequently is
notjust about painting pictures on bodies.
Art is meant to be charged with passion,
that lives in the body and soul.
The soul of both, so of
tattoo artist and the tattooed one, overlap in the process,
whiCh even further enhances the art of IRezumi.
And this is why theRe is this
indesCribable chaRm in Irezumi,
HORI NAM I, TH E F I RST ,
TATTOO ARTIST SHIDO KATSUMI
HORIAI, THE FlRST ,
NARRATOR: RYUTA IZUMI
PRODUCTION: YOICHl KOBAYASHI, TAKASHI OHASHI
PRODUCER: K. UTAGAWA, K. UENO ASSlST. PROD.: M. IZUMIKUCHI, A. TAKANAMl ,
MUSIC PRODUCER: SHINJI KURATA
MUSIC: KlYOKA YAMAMOTO MUSIC RECORDING: H. TANOKURA
INSTRUMENTS: S. TOMOTSUNE, M. HASHlMA, ,, R. SAKAMOTO, M. KINOSHITA, J. YATSUKI
IN COOPERATION WlTH: TAKUYA OGAWA PRODUCTION ASSlSTANT:T. NAKAZOTO
PHOTOGRAPHY: PHOTO BY @ COPRO MITSUO NISHIMURA
EED: SHOWA OHASHI (MORIGO) MA: SHUNJI KAWAI (MORIGO)
DISTRIBUTED BY: Y. FUJII, M. KANEKO PROD. DESK: S. SENOO, E. SATO
PRODUCTION: TORNADO FlLM DISTRIBUTED BY: JOLLY ROGER
PRODUCTION: ACE DEUCE ENTERTAINMENT, , JOLLY ROGER ORGANlSATION
EPISODE DIRECTOR: YO HIROSE