What is Wabori?

What is Wabori?

Wabori refers to tattoos that are drawn in traditional Japanese designs.

*Including those that originated in China due to the transmission of Buddhism from ancient times.

Regarding the origin of tattoos, it is necessary to go back to the BC8000 to AD300, where there are no clear documents left, but it was the AD1600 when the general framework of the design was completed and it began to become familiar to the general public.

Since that time, it has been used as a proof of criminals and as part of punishment, and even today in Japan, the impression of antisocial forces is strongly rooted in Japan, but it was town firefighters, couriers, palanquins, and fishmongers who all had tattoos on their bodies. Men in manual labor, such as carpenters.

They often exposed their skin, so they showed off their masculinity, courage, and masculinity that endured the pain of having tattoos all over their bodies with impressive tattoos.

Japanese carving designs are completely different from Western carving tattoos, and based on the aesthetics of “not being visible from the kimono”, it is basically not carved from the neck upwards and from the wrists downwards.

Because of such aesthetics, it was popular in occupations that required skin to be exposed.

Tattoos have become a fashion fad among physical men, but ex-convicts who were given tattoos as a punishment sometimes get large tattoos to hide their tattoos. Rather, the tattoo boom spread to the samurai class.

In Japanese carving, the largest pattern is drawn on the back, and various motifs are also drawn on the arms and other places, and finally everything is put together on the forehead (black or gray cloud or wave-like pattern). It is said that if you start carving from your arm even though it is not on your back, you will be ridiculed as a fishmonger carving. (I think you should carve from the part you like)

It’s interesting to see how people who pursue their own coolness in any age.