Tebori is a way of Tattooing. In Japan there are some Tebori artists, they tattoo by hand using needles on the ends of bamboo sticks or aluminium sticks. This takes several hours and is considered a more 'organic' way of tattooing.
The artist I would like to focus on today is Horimyo. Below I have a few quotes from his interviews.
The artist I would like to focus on today is Horimyo. Below I have a few quotes from his interviews.
"There are so few tebori artists, if I had to put a ratio to it, it’s a hard question. Nine and a half out of ten artists use the machine I guess? it’s hard to say exactly. All tebori people, as in people that use no machines what so ever, even for the outline, there couldn’t be 10 % maybe, to be extreme, maybe 0.1%, there really are very few. Everyone uses machines, or are machine outlined and teboru filled, and people who are all tebori really don’t advertise in magazines, so its more a case of no one knows."
"It’s really stifling being a tattoo artist in Japan, overseas if you say you are a tattoo artist it’s great, but in Japan, you are in the shadows.”And apparently this means that not only are people with tattoos refused entry into gyms, saunas, and even golf courses; it can have other unpleasant repercussions too. “A girl I was dating 3 years ago, when her parents found out she was dating a tattoo artist, it became a huge problem! They were in uproar “Argh! Our daughter is dating a yakuza member!”Tattoo artists and people with tattoos in Japan are seen as a minority group that are strongly discriminated against and listening to Horimyo’s stories, it sounds reminiscent of the draconian times of apartheid. But
Japan being a passive society, where people rarely litigate and social change is a complicated process due to the nature of the bureaucratic system, it’s unlikely things will change in a hurry."
Japan being a passive society, where people rarely litigate and social change is a complicated process due to the nature of the bureaucratic system, it’s unlikely things will change in a hurry."
I thought this was a good little snippet of insight in tattooing in Japan. Most Japanese associate tattoos with the Yakuza. Seeing Horimyo living his dream of being a tattoo artist without having to deal with the Yakuza is great, a good step in the right direction to help people see that not all tattoo artists work for the Yakuza.
Well that is all for now, if you would like some more information on Horimyo or Tebori here are the websites I used for all my information and quotes above:
Tofugu
Tokyo Fashion
Horimyo's Website
Big Tattoo Planet
Also Tokyo Fashion actually made a Video of their interview, It shows Horimyo tattooing in it as well.
Well that is all for now, if you would like some more information on Horimyo or Tebori here are the websites I used for all my information and quotes above:
Tofugu
Tokyo Fashion
Horimyo's Website
Big Tattoo Planet
Also Tokyo Fashion actually made a Video of their interview, It shows Horimyo tattooing in it as well.