Pop Japan

Long before tattoos were considered taboo in Japan, they were actually a form of a spiritual body decoration.

The word irezumi can be written in a number of ways in Japanese. One way is by using the characters which means to "insert ink." Another way is by using another set of characters, which means "decorating the body." Another are the characters meaning "To stay blue or green." One more has the meaning of "piercing or pricking in blue or green." The character for blue or green is said to have been used because the main ink used in this traditional body art has a shade of blue or green.

Tags: tradition, tattoo, spiritual, japan, ink, body decoration, body art, blue, green