There are several perspectives when it comes to tattoos and the Japanese tattoo designs are no exception. A tattoos is a personal symbolism and is a way of expressing who you are or what you most of all care about. Then there are those that have a tattoo as a fashion statement such as gothic tattoos, religious tattoos etc.

Tattooing is a process whereby ink is embedded under the skin which in turn creates a permanent design and this form of art has been around since antiquity as many indigenous cultures practiced tattooing for spiritual and adornment purposes. In recent years there has been resurgence in tribal tattoos especially Japanese, Native American and Maori designs.

When it comes to Japanese tattoo designs most people are making a fashion statement and don’t have the faintest ideas what the designs signify. Japanese spiritual and decorative tattooing dates back to 10 000BC. Between 300 and 600Ad which was the Kofun era tattoos began to assume negative connotations as tattoos were used to mark criminals and slaves.

In Japan the Ainu people were known to use tattoos for social and decorative purposes. Still to this day many people that participate in the martial arts have specific Japanese tattoos that signify a special and personal meaning to them. Before having a Japanese symbol tattooed onto your skin make sure you have the correct meaning of that specific symbol. Do research into the background meaning. For instance you want a symbol depicting “life” then make sure you know the background and that the symbol you have chosen is the right one.

There are many tattoo artists that do not know the full and correct meaning of these Japanese designs. So what will happen is that you will choose a design that you though meant “life” and someone comes along and says to you wow that is a great “harvest” symbol. After the money you spent you are really not going to be happy knowing you don’t have “life” tattooed on you. In addition you cannot go home and wash this off either and will cost you thousands of dollars to have it removed.

If you have chosen to have one of the Japanese tattoo designs done make sure that the design is what you wanted and that the meaning is correct especially when it comes to tribal tattoos as there is nothing worse than having a tattoo that has no or little meaning.