page_title: Irezumi
section_title: Glossary of Japanese tattoo terms
hierarchical_section_title: Irezumi / Glossary of Japanese tattoo terms
caption_attribution_description: A man with a tattoo.
context_page_description: Irezumi is the Japanese word for tattoo, and refers to a distinctive style of Japanese tattooing, though it is also used as a blanket term to describe a number of tattoo styles originating in Japan, including tattooing traditions from both the Ainu people and the Ryukyuan Kingdom.
  All forms of irezumi are applied by hand, using wooden handles and metal needles attached via silk thread. This method also requires special ink known as Nara ink; tattooing practiced by both the Ainu people and the Ryukyuan people uses ink derived from the indigo plant. Irezumi is a painful and time-consuming process, practiced by a limited number of specialists known as horishi. Horishi typically have one or more apprentices working for them, whose apprenticeship can last for a long time period; historically, horishi were admired as figures of bravery and roguish sex appeal.
  At the beginning of the Meiji period, the Japanese government outlawed tattoos, and irezumi took on connotations of criminality and delinquency as a result, leading to considerable stigma against people with tattoos and tattooing in modern-day Japan.
context_section_description: Bokukei, bokkei (墨刑): punishment by tattooing.
  Donburi Sōshinbori: full body tattoo without the opening
  Gobu (五分): 5/10 sleeve tattoo, to above the elbow
  Hanebori (羽彫り) (lit., "to carve with a feather"): a hand-tattooing technique employing a feathering motion.
  Hanzubon: tattooed shorts; inner thigh filled completely with tattoo work
  Hikae: Chest panel tattoo
  Horimono (彫り物, 彫物) (lit., "carving, engraving"): another word for traditional Japanese tattoos.
  Horishi (彫り師, 彫物師): a tattoo artist.
  Irebokuro (入れ黒子): from ire or ireru, which means to insert, and bokuro or hokuro, a beauty spot.
  Irezumi (入れ墨, 入墨, 刺青, 文身, 黥): tattoo (noun or verb)
  Kakushibori (隠し彫り) (lit., "hidden carving"): tattooing near the armpits, the inside of the thighs and other "hidden" body areas. Also refers to the tattooing of hidden words, for example among the petals of flowers.
  Katabori: the untattooed, triangle-shaped space left clear in the armpit
  Kebori (毛彫り): the tattooing of fine lines or of hair on tattooed figures.
  Koban gata: the untattooed, round-edged space left clear in the armpit
  Munewari (胸割り): chest tattoo with the opening in the middle
  Munewari Sōshinbori (胸割り総身彫り): full body tattoo with the opening on the chest
  Nagasode (長袖): Arm tattoo, to the wrist
  Shakki: the sound needles make when they puncture the skin.
  Shichibu: 7/10 sleeve tattoo, to the mid forearm
  Sujibori (筋彫り): outlining, the outline of a tattoo.
  Sumi (墨): The ink used to tattoo, traditionally mixed by the apprentice
  Taubushi: armpit fully tattooed
  Tebori (手彫り) (lit., to carve by hand): describes the technique of tattooing by hand.
  Tsuki-bori (突き彫り): a hand-tattooing technique employing a thrusting motion.
  Yobori (洋彫り): "Yo" (Western) tattooing. The slang term for tattooing done with the machine.
caption: A man with a Sujibori depicting a rising koi fish
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