Japanese tattoo artist Ginjiro Susuki, 72, left, exhibits some of his tattoo designs at the Hard Skin Club convention of tattooed men and women held in Tokyo, Japan in 1948. Suzuki estimates that he has tattooed more than 10,000 persons in his lifetime devotion to the 300-year-old art. (AP Photo)
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Westernization: Both Killing and Saving Traditional Japanese Tattoo Art
By Nhi Q. Nguyen
In Meiko Yamada’s 2009 article, “Westernization and Cultural Resistance in Tattooing Practices in Contemporary Japan,” published in the International Journal of Cultural Studies, she researched the effects of western modernization on the traditional form of Japanese tattooing.
Historically, tattooing was seen as negative and associated with criminality and rebellion against the upper class in feudal Japan. Done by hand and in Japanese block print style, tattoos were utilized by the working class and yakuza. With the opening of Japanese borders in 1868, Western ideas about the barbarianism of tattooing ultimately led to the Japanese government banning them until after the Second World War and driving the culture underground. In Post-modern times, the popularity of tattoos in the West revived the interest in Japan.
This resurgence of popularity has changed perceptions of tattooing in Japan into one of acceptance. These new values have saved the practice of tattooing while also unsettling the traditionalists who see these changes as threats to their heritage. In the past, tattoos were a symbol of social identity, such as being a member of the yakuza. Presently, tattoos are more a symbol of self-determination and expression. The methods of tattoo have changed as well. The full body tattoos of the past have changed into the western style of “one-point tattoos,” which are singular tattoos.
These threats of homogenization are met with local resistance in the form of many of the traditionalists keeping their art marginalized and underground, as it has been in the past. Other responses are less severe and reflect a sense of global social choice. One of Yamada’s interviewees practices in the traditional style, but decided to conduct business with a proper store and advertisements on the Internet. This results in a rising dichotomy between the contemporary artists and the traditionalists.