At Horiyoshi's studio in Yokohama, Japan, tattoos are outlined freehand using an electric needle. He did the outlining by hand until the late 1990s. His friendship with Don Ed Hardy, started in the mid-1980s, lead to Horiyoshi's adoption of electric machines.Shading and color is added using the traditional tebori, or Japanese hand tattooing, technique. He restricts his motifs to the classical repertoire of the vast variety of traditional Japanese stories and designs: peonies, koi, dragons, tenyo (she-angels), etc. Horiyoshi feels responsible for keeping the classic repertoire alive, "one prick at a time."
Horiyoshi III's work can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and may require weekly hour-long visits over the course of several years to complete. His work is now limited to finishing existing clients' tattoos. According to Horiyoshi, he was inspired by a Yakuza (Japanese gangster) with a full-body tattoo in a public bathhouse when he was a young boy, "about eleven or twelve.
No comments:
Post a Comment