I first start out by discussing the different types of tattoos - wabori (Japanese) and youbori (Western). Within the wabori section, I broke it down irezumi, munawari, and kishobori. After I described all those, I briefly mentioned the thoughts of Japanese people according to a study I had found conducted in Canada. I did take notice of how it's not completely accurate because it was conducted with few people. After that, I had talked about the history of tattoos in Japanese culture. Next, I talked about the different tattooed people - which I had divided into three groups. Those groups are Ainu people, yakuza, and "ordinary" people. In the "ordinary" people category, I am including everyday people, celebrities... basically anyone who is not an Ainu or yakuza. I have not completed writing the yakuza or "ordinary" people categories yet. From there, I am planning to write about how the tattooed people feel about tattoos in Canada and in Japan.
This is what I have planning and have been doing. One thing that I am curious about is if I should recall the "ordinary" people to "non-yakuza?"
Here are my sources as of now (I will be including more or fixing some of the sources):
Donald Richie, "The Japanese Tattoo"
Meiko Yamada, “Meaning of Tattoos in the Context of Identity-Construction: A Study of Japanese Students in Canada”
Meiko Yamada, “Japanese Tattooing from the Past to the Present” http://www.tattoos.com/mieko.htm (2000)
http://www.ehow.com/info_10043392_tebori-tattoo-technique.html
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/07/31/lip-tattooing-is-the-latest-fad/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jun/27/books.japan
http://inventorspot.com/articles/art_yakuza_japans_tattooed_men_w_6920
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattooing_among_japans_ainu.htm
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo_museum/chinese_japanese_tattoos.html
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20110315zg.html
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/geopedia/Daisetsuzan
http://kotaku.com/5488997/in-japan-getting-a-tattoo-means-you-can-never-go-home
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fs20080826a3.html
I have plenty of pictures to examine or that goes along with the text. As for videos, I am still examining a few videos (such as the one in the previous post).
Just a preview of what's to come...
Please let me know what you think. ^^
Brennan-san,
ReplyDeleteThis is looking very good. I also like the way you mention, in your narrative, that you're interested in finding out about people's attitudes towards tattoos, etc. This shows me that you are keeping in mind my desire that a lot of focus be placed on images (in this case, tattoos) in terms of how they produce meaning, and in the case of subcultures, identity. As for terminology, I'm glad that you ask the question. "Ordinary" is a complicated idea, and perhaps best to avoid. If you want to be as precise as possible, "non-Yakuza" may be the way to go, even if it's a bit awkward. In any event, I like the way things are working out, so keep at it!