Why I love Japanese tattoos
In the last 20 years or so that has been a huge advance in the diversity and quality of tattoos. This trend hasn’t really shown any signs of slowing down and boundaries are still being pushed all the time. Tattoos are getting softer and more delicate, or more detailed, or smaller, or more realistic etc, etc. But the problem with existing on the cutting edge is that sometimes bad decisions are made, and for every new trend there is a failed experiment. I personally believe there are a lot of tattoos being done in this Instagram/social media age that are not going to hold up over time as great pieces. I have written another blog about what makes great tattoo, but I will just briefly run over that again here. A good tattoo should look good close-up and from a distance, it should look good today, in two years time and in 20 years time. There are a lot of factors that go to achieve these things but they include things such as the balance of values (simply put, the light bits contrasting with the dark bits), the macro shapes and flow of the piece balanced with the finer close-up details.
And this is where we get to Japanese tattooing and why it works so well. It has the perfect balance of the macro and micro. You have the the big flowing shapes of your elements such as koi, dragons, water or flowers that look great from a distance and can be read from across the other side of a room, but when you get up close there are all the fine details such as scales which add interest and beauty. It balances values really well because you have dark backgrounds overlaid with beautiful soft waves.
Japanese tattoos flow on the body exceptionally well, especially as large pieces (maybe only matched in this regard with tribal and ornamental work). A lot of forms of tattooing do not scale up to large work very easily. They often end up being just things placed together with little interaction between the elements or flow across the whole piece. In Japanese work the background is as important as the foreground and this wind and water can create a beautiful flow that translates to sleeves, back pieces or even bodysuits incredibly well.
Finally, what is trending will date. Any newer form of tattooing which is having its moment on social media, or a certain burst of popularity will one day look dated. Japanese tattoos are such a timeless classic that their style does seem to transcend the latest fashions.
Don’t get me wrong I do love lots of types of tattoo. I have and have done plenty of other styles such as black and grey realism, traditional, Neo-trad etc, but both of my sleeves are Japanese work and if I had to do it all again, I wouldn’t hesitate to have the same work again. If you’re looking for a beautiful, timeless strong tattoo that will look good today but also look good in 20 years time I really don’t think you can beat a Japanese tattoo.
Needless to say, if would like to get a Japanese tattoo from me then I would be more than happy to help at Un1ty tattoo in Shrewsbury. I have a lot of designs already drawn (check out my highlighted stories on Instagram) or can draw something custom for your needs.