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The earliest signs of the practice of tattooing in Japan are
usually sought among the tribes of the Neolithic era now
known as the Jōmon period (c. 10,000 B.C. - 300 B.C.).
Because of the absence of documentary sources from the
period itself and the often highly plausible character
of references appearing in sources of a later date, our
knowledge of the Jōmon period is completely derived
from archaeological research. This mainly concerns the
production of earthenware, in that period unglazed,
made of soft clay and fired at a low temperature.
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Although the culture of the Jōmon period
was one of hunting and food gathering,
implying the inconvenience of heavy baggage
for groups that are constantly on the move,
a lot of earthenware was produced. Detailed
archaeological research has indicated that
the Jōmon people operated from small and
temporary settlements, where seeds, nuts,
fruit and catch were processed and stored
in pots. When moving to a new area, the
nomadic groups or tribes could obviously only
take along a few pots, so they had to produce
new ones whenever a new place of residence
was chosen.
A large amount of Jōmon pots has been
excavated throughout Japan, especially in
recent decades. A substantial number of the
earthenware products show decorations that
have been applied by impressing the surface
of the damp clay with cords. This method of
decorating is indicated by the term jōmon,
literally ‘cord pattern’, which now has become
the name of the entire historic period in
question. Radiocarbon analyses have pointed
out that these earthenware products represent
the oldest of its type known in the world
so far. Shards of a cooking pot with cord
markings excavated in 1999 in Akita, north
Japan, have now been carbon dated to 14,500
B.C., which places the beginning of the Jōmon
period even further back.
On account of the lack of factual
knowledge, the Jōmon culture has become
subject of many speculations and discussions.
Even the existence of the Jōmon ruler
Jinmu-tennō, who is currently adopted as the
first emperor of Japan, merely seems to have
originated from legends and speculations
formed and written down in later times. There
is not a shred of evidence that a centralized
government was ruling over a homogeneous
Japanese archipelago in those days, yet
Jinmu-tennō’s enthronement, which is
thought to have taken place in the year 660
B.C., is nowadays officially considered as the
foundation of the Japanese Empire. It is
believed that Jinmu-tennō was of divine
descent, being the grandson of the sun
goddess Amaterasu. Tradition has it that the
troops of Jinmu-tennō invaded the central
region of Honshū, the great island of Japan,
from the southwest. This occurred between
670 B.C. and 660 B.C., an assumption based
on notes written down many centuries later.
After having defeated several aboriginal
tribes, including the chief tribe of Nagasunehiko, the invader settled in Kashiwabara.
This was a small place at the foot of mount
Unebi in the Yamato district of Honshū. Some
time later it became the seat of the Imperial
court, despite the fact that the government
did not rule over the whole country. During
the following centuries, the government in
Kashiwabara managed to expand its powers
over large areas of the country, so eventually
the Yamato region became the centre of
Japan. It held this position until the end of
the eighth century.
The aboriginals were driven to the
eastern and northern parts of the Island of
Honshū, in particular the region of Hidakami
(i.e. Hitakami), now forming the provinces of
Hitachi, Iwaki and Rikuzen. From there they
repeatedly revolted against the invader and
his successors, and became known as Ebisu,
a term that stands for ‘Barbarians’.
In Japan’s earliest chronicles we find
a number of passages, hitherto unverified
and in some cases with dubious dates,
revealing that from the very beginning of
01
the Jinmu-tennō era several military
campaigns were held against the combative
aboriginal tribes. These campaigns are
known as Sei-i-shi (literally: sent against
the Barbarians) and were led by famous
commanders-in-chief such as Yamatotakeru
no mikoto (dates uncertain, possibly A.D.
81-113; mikoto i.e. lord, prince), Tajihi no
Agatamori (668-737) and Ōtomo no Otomaro
(731-809). The first is considered one of
Japan’s most celebrated heroes of legendary
times. He is the main character of a famous
story that is based on an expedition to subdue
a revolt of the Kumaso, the aboriginals in
Kyūshū. On a day of festive activities of the
rebellious tribes the young and handsome
Yamatotakeru no mikoto, disguised as a
woman, managed to infiltrate a banquet of
two Kumaso leaders, in spite of the tight
security that was in force. He killed both
leaders with a dagger that he had held
hidden under his clothes. Legend has it
that the aboriginals did not take revenge
on Yamatotakeru. On the contrary, the
daring act commanded the aboriginals’
respect, whereupon they stopped their
revolt against the emperor. Among many
other stories about Yamatotakeru is one
that tells that the emperor sent him to
wage war against the Ebisu in the eastern
provinces of Honshū. When the legendary
hero crossed a prairie after negotiations
with the leaders of the aboriginal tribes,
their warriors set fire to the tall grasses
around him. Yamatotakeru got completely
surrounded by the fire, but managed to
escape by mowing away the burning grasses
with his sword, that after this event was
called Kusanagi no Tsurugi, ‘Grass-cutting
Sword’.
02
Best known for campaigns against the
aboriginals is perhaps Sakanoe no
Tamuramaro (758-811). He defeated the Ebisu
in 801 and built the castle of Izawa in Mutsu,
in order to offer resistance to their continuous
incursions.
Through the centuries the number of
Ebisu gradually decreased until the aboriginals
formed an ethnic minority that was finally
brought under complete subjection in the
eighteenth century. It is assumed that the
Ainu populations now residing in Sakhalin,
the Kurils and Hokkaidō, are remnants of the
Ebisu. The supposed relationship between
the Ainu and Ebisu is partly founded on the
resemblance of a number of geometrical
motifs and patterns appearing in the culture
of both people. These design motifs include
some of those still used in contemporary Ainu
tattoos and seem to originate from the early
ages of the Japanese Empire. At any rate,
many excavated pots and clay figurines are
extant with decorations of the type of design
in question, mainly from the Latest Jōmon
period (1000 B.C.-300 B.C.).
The clay figurines, called dogū, have been
the subject of much discussion, but it is now
generally assumed that the vast majority
represent deities associated with fertility.
Their motifs and patterns have been applied
by scratching the surface of the damp clay
with a sharp utensil. The faces of quite a few
of the figurines are decorated with concentric
lines around the eyes and the mouth. On the
bodies geometrical motifs and patterns can
usually be found, consisting of for instance
paired oblique lines, triangles, parallel lines,
hatchings and spirals, very similar to the
design motifs found on many pots of the same
period. Though the often grotesque-looking
totemic dogū are products of the imagination,
they are of course composed of visual
elements simply originating from real
everyday life. In other words, the body marks
applied to the clay objects portraying human
figures may simply represent embroidery
or other kinds of decorations of the clothes
worn those days, while the facial marks on
the figurines most likely represent skin
decorations, perhaps including tattoos. There
is no conclusive evidence for the presence
of tattoo reproductions on the faces of the
dogū figurines, but the idea is originated in
Takayama Jun’s thorough study Jōmonjin no
irezumi (‘Tattoos of the Jōmon people’).
It concerns a comparison of the facial
markings of the dogū figurines with markings
appearing in the cultures of Taiwan, Southeast
Asia and the Pacific islands. In spite of the
lack of factual information on any pigment or
01See for Jinmu-tennō
(Jimmu-tennō) e.g. Papinot, E.,
Historical and Geographical
Dictionary of Japan, pp. 227-228.
02Tajihi no Agatamori quelled a
revolt of the Ebisu in A.D. 720.
Ōtomo no Otomaro was sent
against rebelling Ebisu in the
northerly Mutsu, where he
defeated the rebels in A.D. 791
with the aid of Sakanoe no
Tamuramaro.
03See e.g. Gulik, W.R. van., Irezumi;
The Pattern of Dermatography in
Japan, pp. 251-258.
04Takayama, J., Jōmonjin no irezumi;
Kodai Shuzoku o Saguru, Tokyo,
1969.
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ISODA
KORYŪSAI
A man with kanji characters tattooed on
his upper arms.
Detail of a bookplate from Shikidō mizu
no den, published 1770s.
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KATSUKAWA SHUNRŌ
( i . e . K atsushika H okusai )
The actors Onoe Matsusuke I and Segawa Kikunojō III.
A hosoban print published between 1781 and 1792.
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KATSUKAWA
SHUNSHŌ
The actor Onoe Matsusuke I as the
palanquin bearer Gohei. On his right
arm is the character matsu, tattooed
in dotted lines.
A hosoban print published 11/1780.
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KATSUKAWA
SHUNKŌ
An ōban published c. 1787, depicting
sumō wrestler Fudenoumi Kinemon,
with Sakata tattoo, posing with sumō
wrestler Kashiwado Kandayu.
Courtesy of the Bridgeman Art Library &
Christie’s Images, London.
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A second change concerns the development
of different types of tattoos. The works of art
printed between the late 1760s and 1800,
including both single-sheet brocade prints
and black-and-white bookplates, not only
depict tattooed vows, but also large characters
in outlines and pure figurative tattoos,
while for the same period there seem to be
no records of prints or bookplates in which
tattooed family crests are present. This does
not necessarily mean that crest tattoos had
completely disappeared. Perhaps this type
simply had gone out of vogue. In the same
period, the first examples of persons with
two or more tattoos are recorded, as well as
some prints showing tattoos placed on other
parts of the body than just the arms. To avoid
a tedious and lengthy enumeration of details,
only a selection of the most relevant prints
and book illustrations is discussed here.
The other examples are mentioned in the
footnotes or completely left out because of
their marginal importance.
One of the earliest full-colour prints in
which a tattoo appears is a medium-sized
print (large chūban, 21 x 28.3 cm) by
Suzuki Harunobu, with a shunga bathhouse
scene. As we have already seen, the artist
is considered as the pioneer of the brocade
print. He was the leading artist of the 1760s
and created a style all his own, poetic and
sweet, thereby focussing on idealized beauty.
The print in question was published in the
late 1760s, at the height of the artist’s
career. It is not signed in order to avoid
problems with the authorities. Generally
erotic works were left unsigned, but in
some of his shunga Harunobu took the
risk. In those cases the signature appears
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The practice of combining different types of tattoos
and not restricting these to the upper arms any longer
most likely originated in the 1790s, as is mentioned in
the previous chapter. Such combinations also included
figurative tattoos. This development led to the
figurative full-body tattoo style which was to become
one of the most striking fads of nineteenth-century
Japan.
01
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The development is also seen in shunga
prints by Kitagawa Utamaro (1754-1806),
one of the most prominent artists at the turn
of the century. For instance, in the artist’s
Ehon karanishiki (Picture-book of Chinese
brocade), published in 1802, a boatman
appears with three different tattoos on his
arms. The tattoos are placed at random and
seem to be incoherent. One is representing
a woman’s head much like the one in Torii
Kiyonaga’s book illustration mentioned
before.
A second interesting print to be brought
up in this context is a shunga originating
from Utamaro’s Ehon hana fubuki
(Picture-book of flowers in violent bloom),
which was also published in 1802. In the
print a villainous figure appears whose
back is tattooed with the image of a skeleton
playing samisen, the three-stringed banjolike instrument often played by female
entertainers (fig. 019, p. 099). It certainly
is among the earliest prints showing a tattoo
on the back of a person. One could say that
the drawing technique used for this figurative
back-tattoo is simple and rather amateurish,
definitely beneath Utamaro’s artistic level,
but here the artist undoubtedly has
deliberately chosen to copy the general
quality of the real-life tattoos of those days.
Utamaro’s two shunga, each after its own
fashion, perfectly reflect the innovative move
tattooists and their clients made in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
The next phase announced itself in 1805,
when a special phenomenon emphatically
began to play an important role in the process.
That year a few illustrations by Hokusai
marked the beginning of the crucial steps
towards the distinctive style of the Japanese
02
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tattoo of the late Edo period, in spite of the
fact that the original source that indirectly
gave rise to Hokusai’s illustrations had been
known in Japan for many years. The original
source is the Chinese novel Shuihu zhuan.
In Japan it is called Suikoden, ‘Tales of the
water margin’. The first version of this
voluminous work was probably written or
compiled by authors using the pseudonyms
of Shi Nai’an and Luo Guanzhong, at the end
of the Yüan period (1279-1368). The original
compilation and a number of versions written
during the two centuries that followed are
now unfortunately lost. The earliest extant
complete version dates from 1589.
The novel deals with the legendary
exploits of a kind of Robin Hood gang of
freebooters, revolting at injustice and
struggling against corrupt government
officials at the chaotic end of the Northern
Song Dynasty (960-1125). The novel is
believed to have originated from a mixture of
fact and fiction. The brigands are said to have
had a hideout near the marshes of Liangshan
in the western Shantung region. In an early
stage itinerant narrators spread the stories
of the rebels’ adventures. Undoubtedly they
have treated the subject matter in a creative
way over the course of time, whereupon
the different stories were probably brought
together in the 1360s. The compilation is
one of China’s first long novels.
The band was led by Song Jiang, starting
with thirty-six companions and soon joined
by seventy-two sympathizers, including some
women. They formed a virtuous group with
strict rules of conduct. All members had
withdrawn from society for different reasons.
Their backgrounds, characters and skills
varied a lot, but they shared idealistic
woodblock-printed yomihon (a popular genre
of illustrated fiction, literally ‘books for
reading’), published in black-and-white. The
first ten volumes are written by the famous
author Takizawa Bakin (1767-1848), who was
followed by Takai Ranzan (1762-1838), and
the first sixty were illustrated by one of the
most prominent artists of the time, Katsushika
Hokusai (1760-1849). In total the publication
spanned thirty-three years. Katsushika Taitō II
(active 1821-1853) took care of the illustrations
beginning with volume sixty-one. Of course
the four tattooed heroes of the original Chinese
version also appear in these illustrated
volumes. Hokusai depicted them in a Chinese
style, in vivid lines, with their characteristic
tattoos on the upper part of their bodies.
From the publication of the very first volume
onward, the four were the favourites of the
reading public.
In 1807 again a set of volumes was
published, but then sequel volumes did not
appear until 1828. The reason for the
lengthy interval remains unclear. It is
common knowledge that Hokusai and Bakin
have quarrelled over the Suikoden volumes,
most likely concerning financial matters, but
at least until 1/1815 the two worked together
on several projects, while in the meantime
their Suikoden publications had come to a
standstill.
08
01Forrer, M., Hokusai, pl. 20;
Tamabayashi, S., Irezumi hyakushi,
p. 117.
02Uhlenbeck, C. and Winkel, M.,
et al., Japanese Erotic Fantasies;
Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period,
pl. 45c.
03Utamaro’s print is illustrated in
full size in Daruma, Japanese Art
& Antiques Magazine, 1998, no.
19, p. 47, fig. 3; For notes on the
picture-book, see e.g. Uhlenbeck,
C. and Winkel, M., et al., op. cit., p.
136.
09
intentions and were always thinking in terms
of stepping into breach for the poor. Four of
the rebels were decorated with tattoos.
The rebels’ adventures, their skills in martial
arts and wrestling, and above all their honour,
loyalty and strong ties of brotherhood were
the main ingredients that led to the enormous
success of the novel.
It seems that the Chinese novel reached
Japan at the beginning of the eighteenth
century. At any rate, Japanese editions began
to appear in the first half of that century.
One of the first was a version with a simplified
text, written by Okajima Kanzan (d. 1727),
to unlock the Chinese novel to the Japanese
readership. Similar versions followed and
soon the novel was a favourite among literati.
In 1773 the first full adaptation for Japan was
written, tailored to the general public. It was
called Honchō Suikoden, ‘Our own tales of
the water margin’. In no time this version
of the exciting adventures of the hundred
and eight brigands was widely disseminated
among the citizens of the towns and villages
of Japan. After its publication several variants
appeared, including Onna Suikoden, a version
in which women are the principal characters
of the story. In 1777 a Suikoden-related
picture-book was published. It included a
brief summary of the original story and was
illustrated by Toriyama Sekien (1712-1788),
who produced a number of drawings of the
leading characters.
By the first decade of the nineteenth
century both the Chinese and Japanese
Suikoden had become extremely popular and
in 1805 the rage was further enhanced with
the appearance of the first of ninety-one
volumes of Shinpen Suiko gaden, ‘Newly
compiled illustrated Suikoden’. It involves a
04
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When it comes to the continuation of
the development of tattooing from the early
1800s up to the late 1820s, a small number
of works of art give us something to go on.
The recorded examples are important and of
much interest, as they indicate that figurative
full-body tattoos already existed in the 1810s
and early to mid 1820s. It implies that such
tattoos predated the ones depicted on the
famous Suikoden prints designed by Utagawa
Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) between 1827 and
circa 1836 (see hereafter). The facts are as
follows.
The earliest of the gathered examples
is an ōban print by Utagawa Toyokuni I
(1769-1825), depicting the actor Onoe
Eisaburō as Mamushi no Kichi (i.e. Jirokichi).
The character appears in act one of the
play Sandai banashi totoya no chawan and
occasionally in plays of the Soga genre, such as
Tamakushige akebono Soga. The performance
of the scene shown in Toyokuni’s print is not
recorded in current kabuki annals, but we
know from an old literary work that the print
was published in 1809. We also know that
it predates the eleventh month of that year,
the date on which the actor changed his name
to Onoe Matsusuke II.
10
04Shih Chin (Jap.: Shishin),
Lu Chih-shen (Jap.: Rochishin),
Chang Shun (Jap.: Chōjun) and
Yen Ch’ing (Jap.: Ensei).
05Written by Tatebe Ayatari
(1718-1773) and published in
ten volumes.
06Written by Itan Chin-en and
published 1780.
07The picture book is entitled
Suiko ga senran, ‘A hidden view
to pictures of the water margin’.
08The earliest volumes of Hokusai’s
Shinpen Suiko gaden were
published by Kadomaruya Jinsuke.
09See Sotheby’s catalogue
Collection Huguette Berès,
Paris, 2002, nr. 211, for detailed
descriptions of the Shinpen Suiko
gaden volumes.
10According to notes by the
cataloguer of the Tsubouchi
Memorial Museum collection
of Waseda University, the play
was performed at the Ichimura
Theatre in 1809. Reference is
made to a literary work written
by Santō Kyōden (1761-1816).
See Waseda University collection
number 201-0760; Toyokuni’s
print might be the first depicting
a tattoo belonging to a character
appearing in a kabuki play.
Although in the preceding years
tattoos were occasionally
mentioned in scripts and
consequently probably shown on
stage, they apparently were not
represented in prints. For instance,
in the script for the play Onna
goroshi abura no jigoku, written
by Chikamatsu Monzaemon
(1653-1724), a tattoo is
mentioned. Originally the play
was a puppet play, premiered
7
/1721 at the Takemoto Theatre.
In the same month it was adapted
for the kabuki and staged at the
Naka Theatre, but a related
print depicting the tattoo is
not recorded. See Pons, P.,
Peau de Brocart; Le Corps
Tatoué au Japon, p. 34.
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UTAGAWA
KUNIYOSHI
Tanmeijirō Genshōgo in an
underwater-fight with a high-ranking
general. One of the most lauded prints
from the ōban series Tsūzoku Suikoden
gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori,
published 1827-1830 by Kagaya
Kichiebei.
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UTAGAWA
KUNIYOSHI
Pilgrims at their visit of the Rōben
waterfall at Ōyama.
An ōban triptych published by Azumaya
Daisuke, c. 1819.
Detail of the centre panel of figure
022.
Detail of the right-hand panel of figure
022.
Tattooed pilgrims performing acts of
ritual purification at the Rōben waterfall.
Tattooed pilgrims performing acts of
ritual purification at the Rōben waterfall.
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Until the late 1950s the authors of books on Japanese
prints have paid little or no attention to ukiyo-e produced
in the cities of Kyoto and Osaka (i.e. the Kamigata region)
between the late 1780s and the 1870s. Even in Japan
only a handful of the early publications was devoted to
the ukiyo-e oeuvre of the artists active in these two cities.
Genji Kuroda’s important and voluminous work
Kamigata-e ichiran, published in 1929, is one of the few
exceptions. Unfortunately it is only available in Japanese
and therefore not easily accessible to many interested
western readers. Information from other early books is
scarce, usually concise and often far from accurate.
Scholars and art critics have certainly
neglected this particular group of ukiyo-e
for a long time. Initially, the vast majority
of the collectors of Japanese prints showed
no interest either. The reasons for all this
are clearly pointed out by Roger Keyes and
Mizushima Keiko in their standard work The
Theatrical World of Osaka Prints, published in
1973. Briefly it amounts to this: ‘Osaka prints
are scarcer than Edo prints, they were hardly
available to the first collectors, scholars and
dealers, who bought their first prints in the
nation’s capital Edo, and Osaka prints almost
invariably have as their subject matter the
favourite actors of the kabuki theatre’.
Meanwhile things have changed. In the
past forty years quite a few publications have
appeared dealing exclusively with the print
production in Osaka and Kyoto during the
late eighteenth and the nineteenth century.
Numerous publications by Prof. Matsudaira
Susumu, the undisputed authority in the
field of Osaka and Kyoto prints, became
available, but also several books, articles
and catalogues by others can be added to
the publications mentioned above. All of
these have in common a great devotion,
enthusiasm, and a fundamental aim at a
high degree of accuracy. Thus we now dispose
of much solid information on the subject,
although it took until 2002 (see hereafter)
before it was linked specifically to the history
of tattooing in the Kamigata region.
In the majority of the books on Japanese
tattooing the print oeuvre of the Kamigata
artists is completely neglected. This is
surprising, since the prints in question are
almost invariably related to actual kabuki
performances that are precisely datable.
Consequently any depicted tattoo can be
placed in its historical context and
thereupon it might shed some new light
on the development of tattooing. With that
knowledge the present author began to list
and examine Osaka tattoo prints. The results
of this initial study were published in 2002.
The research was confined to the prints
produced in Osaka, since tattoo prints
originating from Kyoto appear to be extremely
rare. Hence in the following we will deal
exclusively with Osaka prints. The results of
the small study here may serve as a guideline.
As noted before, print design in Osaka
was strongly interwoven with the kabuki
theatre, and simply because of the absence
of Suikoden-related plays the prints were
not greatly affected by the Suikoden craze,
as they were in Edo. In addition it can be
inferred from the examined prints that some
stages of the tattoo development in Edo may
have preceded the corresponding stages in
Osaka. Furthermore, prints depicting actors
represented as tattooed labourers, fishmongers,
otokodate, and firemen, but not referring to an
actual performance or even to a kabuki play
at all, were very popular in Edo in the 1850s
and 1860s, but are almost completely absent
from Osaka printmaking. In other words, the
characteristic features of the tattoo prints
from Edo and Osaka show similarities as well
as differences, in each case highly dependent
on the phase of development. Nevertheless
it is clear that they mutually influenced one
another and that both contributed to the
development of a distinct Japanese tattooing
style.
01
02
Between the late 1780s and the 1870s,
an estimated one hundred and fifty artists
contributed to the print production in Osaka.
kabuki fans. The artist’s work was unique in
style and characterized by rather solid figures
aptly rendered by means of bold and powerful
lines. Most of his single-sheet prints show a
subdued colouration. Generally he used only
four or five colour-blocks for each print.
Despite Ryūkōsai’s small output, only a few
books and about forty single-sheet prints
are known today, his oeuvre has definitely
influenced a generation of following Osaka
artists. Not only did the works themselves
serve as a guideline, Ryūkōsai’s specific ideas
about drawing faces and poses of actors,
which he specified in a sketchbook, were
also passed on to his pupils and followers.
Ryūkōsai started his career in the
mid-1770s as a pupil of the painter Shitomi
Kangetsu (1747-1797). After he left the
studio of Kangetsu, in the early 1780s,
Ryūkōsai soon became known as a painter
and illustrator. A manuscript entitled Osaka
dachin uma (dated 1783) includes some
notes on the artist. The compiler mentions
a vogue for folding fans with actor portraits
painted by Ryūkōsai who lives at Kameibashi
in Kita-horie. He adds that the artist is known
for his unique way of capturing the likeness
of an actor and for drawing the pose of the
actor in compliance with special wishes of the
patron. Unfortunately very few of the artist’s
paintings have survived.
Ryūkōsai’s earliest datable work is an
illustration in Kyōka narabi no oka, a poetry
anthology with illustrations by different
artists. The book was published in 1777.
The first datable graphic work of which all
illustrations are by Ryūkōsai is an album
published in 1784. It is entitled Yakusha
mono-iwai, ‘A celebration of actors’, containing
forty-nine full-length portraits of actors
produced in black-and-white. All figures are
accompanied by a haiku verse and by the
actor’s stage-clan name and pen name. In the
early 1790s Ryūkōsai began to design singlesheet actor prints, apparently stimulated by
the popularity of actor prints by artists of the
Katsukawa school in Edo.
As far as we know Ryūkōsai’s single-sheet
prints are the earliest nishiki-e produced in
Osaka. The earliest print dates from 11/1791
and most of the others were published up to
4
/1794. All of his prints are in the small and
narrow hosoban format (c. 33 x 14.5 cm),
except for one ōban. Since in Edo from the
early 1770s up to the early 1790s the hosoban
format was by far the most popular format
for actor prints, it seems no coincidence that
Ryūkōsai has chosen this paper format for
his introduction of single-sheet actor prints
to the kabuki fans in Osaka. The prints were
03
Some of the artists are known for only one
print or a dozen at most, others have produced
a few hundred prints or more. After having
examined thousands of Osaka prints in
collections, illustrated books and catalogues,
ninety tattoo prints were identified. This
very small percentage can be explained from
the fact that almost every Osaka print has
the kabuki theatre as its subject matter.
Non-theatrical subjects are only seldom
seen. Considering the total number of roles
performed during the period concerned,
we may assume that the small percentage of
tattoo prints is in line with the small number
of plays in which tattoos are shown. In addition
we should note that such plays achieved great
success and hence caught the attention of
competing artists and publishers. Usually this
resulted in the publication of at least a few
different prints related to one performance.
As the artists preferably chose the highlights
of a play for their prints, we may assume that
a tattooed character appearing in a play as
a rule would also be represented in prints.
Starting from the prints it was thus possible
to compile a fairly complete overview of the
appearances of tattoos in plays staged in
Osaka. Combined with information originating
from kabuki annals this has given us some
insight into the historical development of
tattooing in Osaka. As a consequence we can
put the increasing popularity of tattooing in
Japan in that period in a wider context.
04
01Doesburg, W.J. van., Osaka
tattoos. In: Andon, Bulletin of
the Society for Japanese Arts,
no. 72-73, pp. 102-113.
02One recorded example is a
black-and-white koban print by
Shigehiro (active 1848-1854).
It depicts Kataoka Ichizō I as Jirozō,
with a tattoo on his upper arms.
The small print is related to the
performance of Seishū Akogi ga
ura at the Shijō Kitagawa Theatre,
11
/1851, and published in Kyoto
by Sakuraji.
03The sketchbook remained
unpublished, but the original
survived. It was once part of the
Okada Isajirō collection and is
discussed by Haruyama
Takematsu: Ryūkōsai to Shōkōsai,
Naniwa nishiki-e no kenkyū.
In: Tōyō bijutsu, 1931, pp. 1-42;
the present whereabouts of the
sketchbook seem to be unknown.
04The manuscript Osaka dachin
uma is compiled by Soketsuan
Yūdōsanjin.
05The ōban is published 2/1792;
See e.g. Gerstle, C.A., Kabuki
heroes on the Osaka stage
1780-1830, p. 84 and pl. 33.
05
The popularity of actor prints in Osaka
has its origin in the last quarter of the
eighteenth century. During these years
single-sheet prints and book illustrations by
the artist Ryūkōsai Jokei (active 1777-1809?)
increasingly drew the attention of the local
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SHUNBAISAI
HOKUEI
Actors portrayed as Suikoden heroes.
A surimono-style ōban tetraptych
published c. 11/1835 by Kinkadō Konishi.
A mitate scene showing from left to
right Arashi Rikan II as Rōrihakuchō
Chōjun, Nakamura Tomijūrō II as Ko
Sanjō Ichijōsei, Nakamura Utaemon III
as Nyūunryū Kō Sonshō, and Nakamura
Shikan II as Kyūmonryū Shishin.
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Now tattooists who lived in Yokohama,
a district of Tokyo where many foreigners
sojourned, were allowed to resume their
work, on the condition that they tattooed
foreign clients only. Their tattooing style
and technique were at a high level and soon
many foreigners found their way to Japan’s
leading tattooists. These did not only include
seamen, businessmen and tourists who came
to Japan, but also quite a few members of the
Western aristocracy. Even Prince George I
of Greece, King George V, Nicolas II, later tsar
of Russia, and Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence
and Avondale, had themselves tattooed in
Japan.
Stimulated by the legalized tattooing of
foreigners and the ban on tattooing Japanese
people, the illegal tattooing of Japanese fellowcountrymen expanded and was practiced
on a fairly large scale as early as the 1880s.
The ordinance of 1872 may thus have
produced little effect, but in any case tattooing
continued to be officially prohibited to the
Japanese. This situation would last until 1948.
In that year an official of the Occupation
Government of General MacArthur revoked
the Meiji prohibition against tattooing, since
he considered tattooing as important as other
indigenous arts of Japan. He came to this
point of view after having seen tattoo master
Horiyoshi II (Tamotsu Kuronoma, 1914-1991)
demonstrating his skill and artistic talent.
The revocation of the old official tattoo ban
led to an upsurge of tattooing, initially with
traditional tattoos playing the leading part.
Traditional tattoos were favourite among
yakuza, who in this time of rationing of
numerous products managed to earn enough
money with shady business to afford full-body
tattoos.
THE
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All the prints included in this section have been selected from
the Van der Velden Collection of Japanese woodblock prints,
a collection primarily focusing on ukiyo-e depicting tattoos.
The selection has been composed from the perspective of
giving the reader insight into the fascinating and fashionable
world of tattooing in nineteenth-century Japan. The reader
should note that the prints are not arranged in chronological
order but after the ideas of the designers of this publication,
in order to create a balanced and aesthetic visual unity.
Print sizes:
ōban, appr. 26 x 38 cm
chūban, appr. 19 x 26 cm
koban, appr. 9 x 12 cm
In other cases dimensions are given in centimetres,
with height preceding width.
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YOSHITOSHI
(1839-1892)
Title: Shikason tsukiyo Kyūmonryū
(Kyūmonryū Shishin on a moonlit night
in the village of the Shi-clan).
Series: Tsuki hyakushi
(One hundred aspects of the moon)
Signed: Yoshitoshi
Artist’s seal: Yoshitoshi
Publisher: Akiyama Buemon
Date: Meiji 18, eleventh month (i.e. 11/1885)
Block carver: Yamamoto Eizō (seal Yamamoto tō)
Size: ōban
The represented man is one of the most famous heroes of
the Suikoden novel. He is usually shown in a feat of strength,
but here he is sitting quietly on a bench. The hero’s tattoo is
composed of nine dragons covering large areas of the body
and is among the examples frequently admired and followed
by tattoo fans.
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KUNICHIKA
(1835-1900)
Ichimura Kakitsu IV.
Series:Edo no hana isami zoroi
(Flowers of Edo, a set of chivalrous men)
Signed: Kunichika hitsu
Artist’s seal: Toshidama
Publisher: Shimizuya
(trademark Kiyo, in the publisher’s name
read as Shi)
Date/censor’s seal: 5/1865 (an intercalary month), aratame
Number:
1
Size: ōban
In one of the tattoos shown in the prints of this set of ten a
dragon is depicted, in all of the others floral motifs appear.
The dragon tattoo is not represented as if it were a real tattoo,
but as a painted or printed decoration on a short-sleeved shirt
worn by the actor Bandō Hikosaburō V.
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KUNICHIKA
(1835-1900)
(Clockwise) Nakamura Fukusuke II, Sawamura Tosshō II,
Bandō Mitsugorō VI, Ichikawa Kodanji IV.
Series:Edo no hana isami zoroi
(Flowers of Edo, a set of chivalrous men)
Signed: Kunichika hitsu
Artist’s seal: Toshidama
Publisher: Shimizuya (trademark Kiyo, in the
publisher’s name read as Shi)
Date/censor’s seal: 6/1865 (an intercalary month), aratame
7
/1865, aratame (no. 10)
Numbers:
7, 8, 9, 10
Size: ōban
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KUNICHIKA
(1835-1900)
Ichikawa Danjūrō IX as Kyūmonryū Shishin (l.) and Ichikawa
Sadanji I as Kaoshō Rochishin (r.), in the play Suikoden no
danmari, Shintomi Theatre, 5/1886.
Signed: Toyohara Kunichika hitsu
Artist’s seal: Toshidama
Publisher: Komiyama Shōhei
5
/1886
Date: Block carver: Noguchi Enkatsu (seal chōkō Enkatsu)
Size: ōban triptych
This triptych and the two following are related to a very
successful performance of a kabuki play incorporating a
stylised choreographed version of a fight between two famous
Suikoden heroes. The performance attracted many visitors,
not only because of the fascinating movements and poses laid
down in its choreography, but also because of the elaborate
tattoos shown on the stage, one with cherry blossoms and the
other with dragons, adding a very striking visual element to
the scene.
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HIROSADA
(active as print artist Hirosada
1847-1853)
Kataoka Gadō II (l.) as Heiji and Kataoka Ichizō I as Jirozō (r.),
in the play Seishū Akogi ga ura, Ōnishi Theatre, 10/1851.
Title: Akogi monogatari (The story of Akogi)
Signed: Hirosada
10
/1850
Date: Size: chūban diptych
In this scene of the present play Jirozō is hit on his right lower
leg by a stone thrown by Heiji. The first, who is grasping his
right leg with both hands, is sporting a magnificent tattoo with
a pattern of whirlwinds and cherry blossoms and the head of a
woman holding a letter between her lips.
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KUNISADA
(i.e. Toyokuni III, 1786-1864)
Ichimura Uzaemon XIII as tobi (firefighter) Sakichi, in the play
Hachiman matsuri yomiya no nigiwai, Ichimura Theatre, 7/1860.
Title: Go-sairei (festival; referring to the
autumn festival at the Hachiman Shrine)
Signed: Toyokuni ga
Publisher: Ebiya Rinnosuke
Date/censor’s seal: 8/1860, aratame
Size: ōban
Only a few months after the publication of this print Kunisada
included a print depicting the same actor and role in a series
of half-length portraits (see hereafter). On the whole the
decorations on the actor’s clothes are similar in the two prints,
but the motifs in the tattoos differ, making clear that ukiyo-e
artists not always exactly copied what was shown in kabuki.
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KUNISADA
(i.e. Toyokuni III, 1786-1864)
Ichimura Uzaemon XIII as Omatsuri Sashichi (i.e. Sakichi).
Series:Shin butai isami no yakuwari
(New theatre with actors as
chivalrous men)
Signed: Toyokuni ga
Publisher: Kiya Sōjirō (seal Bakurō-shi Kiya han)
Date/censor’s seal: 10/1860, aratame
Block carver: Yokogawa Takejirō
(seal Yokogawa hori Take)
Size: ōban
In the tattoo on the actor’s right arm are the back, tail feathers
and a wing of a phoenix, referring to the feather robe
(hagoromo) of feminine Buddhist angels.
In the upper part of the print the strong wood grain of the block
for dark grey can be seen. The text in the circular cartouche
deals with the role of Sashichi. It is written by Hananoya Kōju.
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YOSHIHARU
(1828-1888)
The hero Rōshi Ensei standing on a rock by the sea.
Series: Suikoden gōketsu kagami
(Mirror of heroes of the Suikoden)
Signed: Ichibaisai Yoshiharu ga
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Tōbei
(seal Yamaguchi, with trademark)
12
/1856
Date seal: Censor’s seal: aratame
Size: ōban
This powerful print and the next two are from a series of six or
more, much in the style of the Suikoden prints by Yoshiharu’s
teacher Kuniyoshi. Apparently the artist was a tattoo devotee,
seeing that flamboyant tattoos in this series are shown in five
of the six prints recorded.
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YOSHIHARU
(1828-1888)
The Suikoden hero Rōrihakuchō Chōjun fighting a dragon.
Series: Suikoden gōketsu kagami,
(Mirror of heroes of the Suikoden)
Signed: Ichibaisai Yoshiharu ga
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Tōbei
(seal Yamaguchi, with trademark)
12
/1856
Date seal: Censor’s seal: aratame
Size: ōban
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SHIGEHIRO
(active 1865-1878)
Nakamura Fukusuke III as Sanjaku Fukuroku (l.), Onoe Tamizō II
as Baikaku Tamazō (centre) and Jitsukawa Enjaku I as Karigane
no Enkichi (r.).
Title: Kawatake yūfu mitate
(A mitate of the valiant men of
Kawatake)
Signed: Ryūō Shigehiro, and kakihan seal
Publisher: Tamanoi (seal Tamanoi han)
Date: c. 1877
Size: chūban triptych
Although this triptych is dating from the period following the
hey-day of Osaka printmaking, it is showing a strong design
and striking tattoos. The actors are portrayed as firefighters
holding a standard (matoi). The characters have fanciful names,
which indicates the three prints are not related to a kabuki
performance but simply and solely designed as fashionable
portraits of popular actors.
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KUNISADA
(i.e. Toyokuni III, 1786-1864)
Nakamura Fukusuke II as Danshichi Kurobei.
Series: Mitate yami no zukushi
(A mitate of night scenes)
Subtitle:
Natsu no yami (Summer darkness)
Signed: Toyokuni ga
Publisher: Hayashiya Shōgorō (trademark Shō)
4
/1855
Date: Censor’s seal: aratame
Block carver: Yokogawa Takejirō (seal hori Take)
Size: ōban
In Danshichi’s tattoo a dragon is confronting a tiger.
The composition is completed with stylised clouds, wind,
flames, rocks and clusters of leaves of a sasa bamboo.
These motifs form a traditional combination in which the
confrontation of the two animals here may express that the
mythological animal’s power is stronger than that of the tiger,
since the dragon takes a prominent place in the tattoo in this
powerful print by Kunisada.
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Ainu
G
J
akebono-mikiri
L
A
aragoto
O
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azami
S
A
bakuto
eighteenth-century hand-coloured print
mid-eighteenth-century two-colour print
R
S
bijin
Y
E
biwa
bokashi
R
M
S
botan
botan-mikiri
bugaku
bunraku
butsugiri
chiku
beautiful woman
a lute-like instrument
graded colour
tree peony
a tattoo-border modelled after tree-peony petals
‘dance-music’, court dance and music
puppet theatre
tattoo with a hard edge
bamboo
chōnin
‘townsmen’, merchants and craftsmen
chūban
a paper format, appr. 19 x 26 cm
daikon
a large white radish
daimyō
feudal lord
daimyō-bikeshi
dengaku
dōgu
Edo
fire brigades serving feudal lords
‘field-music’, folk dances, rustic celebrations
clay figurines
modern Tokyo
eguri
chest tattoo showing a low neckline
ehon
illustrated book
eta
ga
gaen
‘highly dirty ones’, social outcasts
picture, drawn by
servant fireman
geiko
female professional entertainer
geisha
female professional entertainer
gigaku
‘skill-music’, masked drama-dance performance
gō
pseudonyme, nom de plume
gofun
opaque white pigment made from shells
haigō
name used by actors for signing poetry
haiku
han
seventeen-syllable poem
published by
hana-fuda
a popular card game with floral designs
hanamichi
‘flower-path’, the catwalk of kabuki
hanebori
hanga
haniwa
hanmoto
hanshita-e
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itinerant gamblers
beni-e
E
E
thistle
benizuri-e
A
F
a bombastic style of acting
disc-shaped printing pad
N
T
fading of colour over a wide area
baren
S
O
Japanese people of an old race
hand-tattooing with feathering motions
woodblock print
a burial mound clay figure
publisher, published by
a finished design ready for carving
hanten
a half-length coat, often padded
haori
a formal jacket varying in length
happi
a lightweight hip-length coat
hiiki renjū
fan club
hikae
tattooing of the shoulders and upper breast
hinin
‘non-humans’, social outcasts
hitsu
drawn by
hō-ō
a fabulous phoenix-like animal
hori
carved by, engraved by, tattooed by
horimono
horimono-shi
horishi
hōsho
hosoban
hosokawa
ikebana
irebokuro
a tattoo, tattooing
tattoo master
carver, tattooist, tattoo master
a type of thick soft and strong kōzo paper
a paper format, appr. 33 x 14.5 cm
a type of kōzo paper used for woodblock prints
traditional Japanese flower arrangement
‘putting in a mole with ink’, tattooed love dots
irezumi
‘application of ink’, often denoting penal tattoos
jigoku
hell
jō-bikeshi
professional fire brigades
jōmon
cord pattern
jōruri
chanted narration
kabuki
Japan’s popular theatre
kaen
kagura
flames
‘god-music’, Shintō shrine dances
kai-awase
a traditional shell-game
kai-ōi
a traditional shell-game
kajibanten
a fireman’s coat
kakemono
hanging scroll
kakemono-e
kame
kame no kō
kami
Kamigata
kamuro
kana-zōshi
kanji
kaomise
kappa
karashishi
karasu-tengu
kawakiri
kawara-mono
keisei
ken
vertical ōban diptych
tortoise
‘turtle back’, tattooing of the back and buttocks
spirit
Kyoto-Osaka region
a young girl apprenticed to a courtesan
a popular genre of fiction
Chinese characters used in Japanese
opening of the new theatre season
a mythical creature, a water monster
a mythical animal, a lion-dog
a mountain goblin
‘skin cutters’, moxa pellets
‘riverbed people’, discriminated citizens
courtesan
a type of double-edged straight sword
kendō
‘the way of the sword’, a martial art
kentō
register mark
kiku
kimono
kishōbori
kitsune
koban
koi
kōmori
kōzo
kumadori
kumo
chrysanthemum
Japan’s traditional T-shaped garment
a tattooed vow or pledge
fox
a term used for various small paper-formats
carp
bat
paper made from mulberry fibres
a stylised make-up used in kabuki
cloud
2
8
5
I
A
L
N
L
D
U
S
B
T
I
R
B
A
L
T
I
I
O
O
G
N
R
A
C
P
R
H
E
Y
D
I
T
S
Bibliography
Bowers, F.,
Japanese Theatre.
Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo,
1974.
Edmunds, W.H.,
Pointers and Clues to Subjects of Chinese and
Japanese Art.
Sampson Low, Marston & Co., London, 1934.
Carella, A.L.,
Il fuoco sulla pelle; l’arte del tatuaggio
tradizionale giapponese,
Castelvecchi Editore, Roma, 2011.
Fagioli, M.,
Shunga, images du printemps.
Europalia catalogue, Musée d’Ixelles,
Bruxelles, 1989.
Clark, T. and Ueda, O.,
The Actor’s Image; Print Makers of the
Katsukawa School.
The Art Institute of Chikago, Chikago, 1994.
Fagioli, M.,
Shunga; Stampe Erotiche Giapponesi.
Cantini publ., Firenze, 1990.
Crighton, R.A.,
The Floating World; Japanese popular prints
1700-1900.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1973.
Daily, M.C.,
Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
Springfield Museum of Fine Arts exhibition
catalogue, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1980.
2
9
6
Fellman, S. and Thomas, D.M.,
The Japanese Tattoo.
New York, Abbeville Press, 1986.
Fiorillo, J., Hashimoto, R. and Menon, S.,
An electronic transmission analysis of metallic
particles in nineteenth century Japanese
woodblock prints.
In: Andon 65, Bulletin of the Society for
Japanese Arts, Leiden, 2000.
Doesburg, W.J. van.,
Ōsaka Kagami, Huys den Esch publ.,
Dodewaard, 1985.
Forment, F. and Brilot, M., ed.,
Tatu-Tattoo!
Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en
Geschiedenis, Brussel, 2004.
Doesburg, W.J. van.,
Osaka tattoos. In: Andon 72-73. Bulletin of
the Society for Japanese Arts. Leiden,
2002.
Forrer, M.,
Hokusai.
Rizzoli publ., New York, 1988.
Doesburg, W.J. van.,
What About Kunisada?,
Huys den Esch publ., Dodewaard, 1990.
Forrer, M., et al.,
Hokusai and his school.
Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, 1982.
U
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-
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N
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o
D at e
a
n
d
censorship
s
e
a
l
s
,
1791-1875
2
9
7
d
s
a
e
t
a
e
l
s
A
,
N
D
1
7
c
9
e
1
n
-
s
1
o
8
r
7
s
5
h
i
p
2
9
8
Censors’ seals
01.kiwame (approved)
(the square variants only on special
issues such as fan prints)
02.Take (Takeguchi Shōemon)
03.Taka (Takano Shinemon)
04.Fu (Fukatsu Ihei)
05.Tanaka (Tanaka Heijirō)
06.Watari (Watanabe Jiemon)
07.Mura (Murata Heiemon)
08.Hama (Hama Yahei)
09.Yoshimura (Yoshimura Gentarō)
10.Muramatsu (Muramatsu Genroku)
11.Kinugasa (Kinugasa Fusajirō)
12.Murata (Murata Heiemon)
13.Hama and Kinugasa
14.Muramatsu and Yoshimura 15.Mera (Mera Taichirō) and Murata
16.Kinugasa and Yoshimura
17.Kinugasa and Watanabe
(Watanabe Shōemon)
18.Hama and Magome (Magome Kageyu)
19.Fuku (Fukushima Giemon) and Muramatsu
20.Kinugasa and Murata
21.Mera and Watanabe
22.aratame (examined)
23.aratame (examined)
1791-1842
1842
1842
1843-1845
1843-1845
1843-1845
1843-1845
1843-1846
1843-1846
1843-1846
1845-1846
1846
1847-1848
1847-1848
1847-1850
1849
1849-1850
1849-1853
1849-1853
1851-1853
1851-1853
1849-1851
1853-1857
02
01
01
01
01
01
03
04
05
05
06
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
06
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
2
9
9
d
s
a
e
t
a
e
l
s
A
Date seals, 1800-1817
/1800
1
/1805
10
/1806
1
/1806
2
1
/1800
3
/1800
/1805
12
/1806
/1805
6
/1805
12
/1806
1
/1806 (?)
6
/1806
8
/1806
11
/1807
3
/1807
4
6
/1805
8
/1805
10
/1805
12
/1806
2
/1806
6
/1806
9
/1806
12
/1807
3
/1807
5
/1805
/1805
12
/1806
2
/1806
7
/1806
10
/1806
12
/1807
3
/1807
5
,
N
D
1
7
c
9
e
1
n
-
s
1
o
8
r
7
s
5
10
1
/1805
12
/1805
12
1
/1806
1
/1806
1
/1806
2
/1806
5
/1806
/1806
7
/1806
7
/1806
8
/1806
10
/1806
11
/1805
/1806
h
i
p
2
7
10
/1807
2
/1807
3
1
3
0
2
3
6
/1807
2
/1807
3
/1807
3
/1807
3
/1807
4
/1807
4
/1806
/1806
/1806
/1807
/1807
/1807
6
/1807
11
4
/1808
4
8
/1808
8
/1808
12
4
/1809
6
8
/1810
8
6
10
11
7
/1814
/1807
6
/1807
11
/1808
4
/1808
8
/1808
12
/1809
7
/1810
8
/1814
8
/1807
7
/1807
/1807
11?
/1808
4?
/1808
8
8
/1807
/1807
12
12
/1808
5
/1808
6
/1808
8
/1808
8
1
/1809
2
8
/1809
8
/1809
7
/1810
10
/1814
/1807
/1807
/1808
8
8
/1809
/1810
/1807
9
2
/1808
7
/1808
9
/1809
3
/1809
8
/1811
/1807
10
/1807, 2/1808, or 2/1809
with kiwame
/1807
2
1817
/1807
9
/1808
7
/1808
7
/1808
9
/1809
3
/1809
?
/1808
/1808
11
/1809
3
/1809
?
/1808
/1809
/1809
2
/1811
with kiwame
3
0
3
d
s
a
e
t
a
e
l
1815
s
A
Date/aratame seals on fan prints, 1815-1840
1815
1815, 1827, 1839
1815, 1827, 1839
1817
1817
1819
1815, 1827, 1839
,
N
D
1
7
c
9
e
1
n
-
s
1
o
8
r
7
s
5
1816
1816
1817
1818
1818
1819
1820
1820
1821
h
i
p
1820
1823
1828
1831
3
1
6
1824
1828
1825, 1837
1829
1832
1829
1826
1829
1833
1839
1822
1830
1835
1840
1838
Date/kiwame seals on fan prints, 1835-1864
1835
1836
1858
1859
1859
1860
1861
1862
1862
1863
1864
1864
3
1
7
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