Move Aside LA Ink, Japan is Taking Over

Okay, so maybe taking over isn't the exact phrase to use. However, the Japanese do have a huge influence in the world of tattoos, yes, tattoos. (And you only thought Japan was cute, right?) My project is focusing on tattoos in Japanese society. I will be looking at the history of tattoos in Japan, how they changed society, how people react to tattoo. Some people that I will focus on would be the Ainu people, the yakuza, and average people.

Oh look here, a video... let's watch!


That was just to give you a tiny idea of what you'll have to look forward to hearing. The reason why I chose this project was my interest in body modification (and with Mizenko's help of thinking of different ideas that we wouldn't discuss in great detail during class).

One thing that I feel uncertain about is the lack of articles that Google Scholar would give me the full version of. So far, most of the articles that seem to have detailed information are only available in the abstract form.

(I appreciated any advice that you could offer me that could improve or take my research on a different path. Thank you ^_^)

Here are some links to websites that I think I will be looking at:
http://www.tattoos.com/mieko.htm
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo_museum/chinese_japanese_tattoos.html
http://inventorspot.com/articles/art_yakuza_japans_tattooed_men_w_6920
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/1.html
http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2010/04/09/todays_pic_traditional_japanes/
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/ng-investigates/crime-lords-of-tokyo-facts/
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/ng-investigates/crime-lords-of-tokyo-pictures/
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national-geographic-channel/shows/ng-investigates/ngc-marked-for-life/

Who Am I?

Akane Koide - Wrist Slit

I will not lie, I was attracted to this painting by Akane Koide (artist at age 15) from the moment I saw it. As some may know, I have a fascination of stories that involve a struggle situated in a "real life" setting. Yes, the blood may seem a bit like much, but I'll get to that later on.
Okay... time to actually analyze this! When looking at this painting for the first time, the thing that caught my attention was the girl in the background (and surprisingly not the huge eyeball, go figure). This girl (which I'm going to call Girl B), though she is not the the main focus, had something about her that caught my attention. That something was the look on her face; from a distance/normal view, she looks frightened and concern, perhaps even worried for the main girl in the painting. However, when I had zoomed in on her, I had noticed that her eyes are looking straight at the audience. Could it be that she knows what is going on and maybe looking over it? As she is walking, she placed her hand up against the glass, presumably making a noise, forcing the main girl (Girl A) to turn around and look at her. They are both wearing similar uniforms, signifying that they are still in school. Girl B seems more conservative in the way she dressed compared to Girl A; skirt seems longer and she's wearing a cardigan which covers her up more than the short skirt (revealing some of Girl A's underwear) and opened blouse. Now, let's focus on Girl A. She has two eyes showing, one in the back of her head looking at the audience and one in its normal location also looking at the audience with narrow eyes. The normal eye, to me at least, show her displeasure and dislike towards the audience. It is also as though we were interrupting something and that is her way of telling us.
Let's move away from the girls and their clothing and looks and focus on (basically) everything else. I'm going to start at the front and work my way to the back. In the front, we notice the bandages on the Girl A's wrist - they are loose and undone. Probably used that razor in her hand to cut the bandages along with herself. Notice the new cut that she had created, it's longer than the significantly smaller cut, which the bandages had been previously covering. The blood is just pouring out of her wrist/arm similar to what we see in anime as well as movies like Kill Bill, meaning an unrealistic amount. However, what is in her blood is what draws the audience member in the most - book, lips, eyes staring up at Girl A, beauty supplies. These items have been notoriously known for being related to young females. During the junior/senior high school, these are the things that worry girls the most. They have pressure to do well in school/be intelligent, to look good, to have perfect lips/eyes, and (some cases) look sexy yet maintain that kawaii factor in young girls. Putting the pieces together, I would assume the Akane Koide is making a representation of how some girls handle the stress of being this beautiful object of desire; some cannot handle the pressures so they resort to cutting themselves.
Now connecting to the background. To me, Girl B is the same as Girl A. Girl A is more sexualized and materialized whereas Girl B is the complete opposite. She is more of a conservative kind of girl and placed near nature/the outdoors. To me, this is Girl B staring in at Girl A, deciding whether or not she wants to head down this path that most girls her age take. That may be one of the reasons of why she is looking past Girl A at the audience with her worried eyes.

Now for something happy ^_^
Mr. - The New Me

So, no one can deny how adorably cute this is. Mr. is well known for his anime-inspired artwork. This painting is no exception. It has the same details that would be found in an anime: the big eyes, colorful hair, and anything and everything that would be classified as kawaii - animals, sweets, and multicolored backgrounds that hold a close resemblance to a rainbow. There are many options for this girl in the kawaii world as Mr. had depicted. This girl (I assume) is around the typical pre-teen to early teen age. During that time, a girl is at the transitioning period from childhood to adolescence. Should she give give up on the things she loved as a child or grow into a responsible and mature person? By looking at her face and look in her eyes, her decision is quite clear. She is excited by the cuteness and sweetness of the kawaii culture. This is projected into her eyes. It is interesting how Mr. flipped the images seen by the girl and the audience. It is as though her eyes are mirroring the kawaii nature to better illustrate how the girls (and Mr.?) view this trend among the young girls.

And That Makes You Larger Than Life

IWAMI Reika Sea, Evening Calm, 1964

Iwami Reika was born in the year 1927. For 11 years of her life, she worked as a doll-maker and doll-carver after she graduated from Bunka Gakuin Art College in Tokyo. While she attended school there, she studied underneath Koshiro Onchi, Japanese print-maker who fathered the sousaku-hanga movement.She became a print-maker in the year 1954. Until most women in print-making, Iwami focused on solid blacks, gray, and very few colors. Most of her prints involve natures, in particular water. She followed the ideology that all work must be done by the artist themselves. Iwami is still living.

Now, time for my take on her artwork. Let's take a look at the bottom. Here we see five red broken pieces of wood. Now, keeping in mind of the theme of the artwork, these wood pieces could belong to that of a pier or those poles in the ocean (I tried finding out what those were called but no luck. Does anyone know?) As you can see, they are not perfectly straight, they are jagged and the paint is chipping off of them. This is giving the illusion that they have been there for quite some time now. Compared to the rest of the print, these poles are closer to the audience as though it is holding us back from the sea. As we look beyond the red poles, we see complete blackness. Well, not complete blackness because there were specks of glitter (but that really didn't come out all that well in the picture. It's really beautiful to look at, so you should take a walk back to the museum and view this piece again). In the blackness, we see white specks and a red net. The whites are presumably the fish that inhabit that area. The red net, however, could be an old fishing net that broke was was left in the sea by some uncaring people. The next thing we see as we pan upwards is a highlighted section of the sea. As you can see, the moon is dark and ominous. Normally, Iwami dyes the moon in her prints a gold color, but in this one she hadn't? One reason for this could be to focus the eye on the actual sea and not take away from it by the golden moon. The other reason goes along with my next point. Just next to the moon, we see a red-colored object. This object, to me at least, looks like a man's foot. The man's foot is casting a shadow over the sea as though humans are more important and are at a higher level than nature. Now, let's talk about the red color that I have avoiding up until this point. Red represents things that are powerful. The foot is the color red, the human's power can break the calmness of nature; the net is the color red, the power of this could be to hold the fish and sea animals back from getting in the way of humans; and the red poles, power to hold back those undesired to be in that area.

Ukiyo-e

***So here is the background information on this ukiyo-e. This is a scene from the famous story The Tale of Genji. This was done by the "artist" Utagawa KUNISADA sometime during his lifetime (1786 to 1865). This image is entitles Genji kou no zu: Yuugao or Genji Incense Pictures: Yuugao. The Shining Prince had just presented a poem to the servant of the beautiful Lady if the Evening Faces (Yuugao), while his attendants wait by his ox cart. This print series came with a popular brand of incense associated with each chapter of the romance.
***Utagawa KUNISADA was one of the best representatives of Japanese woodblock when it came to their colors. However, due to the globetrotters, his work as well as other top-notch ukiyo-e makers were considered to be inferior to those of the classical ukiyo-e (the ones the globetrotters were more interested in). He had created the Genji prints between the years 1835 to 1850. After he finished his Genji series, other ukiyo-e makers were following in his footsteps by creating similar type of ukiyo-e.

***Let's begin the analysis, shall we? I will begin by looking at the paper condition rather than the image itself. The paper had shown years of aging by its background color. There stains at the top of the paper were the calligraphy was, as well as on the actual ukiyo-e above Genji's attendants and on the stone walls. Where the attendants were located was a few minor creases among the stain. There were minor chips in the paint, such as the servant girl's hand and behind the girl's body.
***The quality of the ukiyo-e was dull, lines were broken, colors were faded, and the colors ran outside of their intended lines. This print must have been in the back of the printing process for none of the lines are sharp inside the artwork. Colors were slightly running outside of their lines, such as in the furthest attendant's clothes, Genji's clothes, and the flowers from the poem. Colors were in the process of fading.
***The print depicts Genji giving the servant of the beautiful and reclusive Lady of the Evening Faces (Yuugao) during the night. This was because it was the only time the Shining Prince Genji would be able to safely go out and visit his lovers. Due to the bountiful amount of the blue flowers, one would assume that it is springtime. These flowers which Genji is presenting to the servant only bloom during the night (according to Mizenko-sensei). Obviously, Genji is presenting this girl what seems to be a fan (the poem could have been written on it) adorned with flowers. His attendants are waiting for Genji to finish his visit to Yuugao. The looks on the attendant's face implies that he is getting impatient with the prince. A person who does not know the background information of this tale might assume that the woman is offering the man (Genji) the flowers and fan. The look on her face is stoic so that gives the impression that she might not care for the man at all.
***I think that ukiyo-e did a good job giving off the illusion of attempting to be 3D in a sense. It looks a little like stacked on top of one another and follows the Japanese angled lines to further that illusion. The Japanese did this when they could not produce that 3D effect. The focus seems to be on Genji and the woman. If you look at the attendants and follow their gaze, it appears to land on the two people. Although, it appears to me that the clouds are split open to allow its viewer to see Genji and this girl, due to the clouds on both top and bottom. The one attendant is gazing the umbrella (which draws the eye up to Genji) or passed the umbrella to the woman. Of course, Genji's gaze is going to the woman and the woman is looking back at him, which seems to make her appear bashful. The elements of the Japanese culture would be the style and prints of the kimonos, the hair, and the ox cart. The ox cart would be used to cover the prince's identity as he rode about during the night. The woman also has the typical beautiful Japanese face that women were always depicted with having. The people and landscape interact with one another from the flowers. Genji was giving these types of flowers to the woman and the flowers seem to be all around the house that she lives in. I feel as though the print does come off as realistic in this scene. This print seems to be among the lines of being an ouban print, meaning the size was about 10 inches wide and 15 inches high. This print, though it was part of a series, was not part of a triptych. Each scene was created separately.
***I really had no emotion for this print; it didn't draw out any emotions from me. Others might experience emotions of the love story and touched by what Genji did; some might feel curious as why he is doing what he did. This print makes me think a little bit of Romeo and Juliet, of how the two lovers had to meet in secrecy. Some people might be able to relate to that.

Is That a Sword in Your Pocket?

So, this is a picture of a samurai and his loyal assistant sometime during the years 1853 and 1867. The samurai is the man sitting at a higher level. He is obviously showcasing his superiority to the other man, his assistant. Notice the two different skin-tones. The samurai has a much paler skin tone than that of the assistant. In Japan (and in most of Asia) making pale skin was the ideal skin tone. The paler the skin tone, the more likely a person was considered beautiful and that of a higher status. So for the samurai to have this skin tone in the photograph represents his high status. The assistant, as you could see, has a very dark skin tone. Many people of lower status had dark skin due to working out in the fields and sun for long hours. So this makes me think that his job prior to being the assistant of a samurai was a field-worker. Also, the wrinkles on the forehand of the assistant makes it seem as though he is older than the samurai. In the assistant's hand, it looks as though he is carrying a parasol, perhaps the one that kept his master so pale-skinned? The samurai has a sword to both sides of him, as a true samurai would. He has a very masculine facial structure. This gives off the impression that he is a strict and strong man that will means business. He sits with a straight back, furthering asserting his position over the assistant, who is hunched over. The gaze of the samurai is going off to the viewer's right-hand side. This gives off the feelings that the samurai is better than the audience and does not need to make eye contact with those of a lower status than him. However, the assistant's gaze is directly at the audience. His eyes look as though he hates his job, he's old, and/or he's weak. The samurai is wearing a lighter color cloth, whereas the assistant is wearing a dark colored outfit. The assistant would not wear light colors for the colors would show the dirt from his work on his outfit. This was probably done to further illustrate the status difference between the two men.

My Travels to Japan

219

On one of my first days here, I was taken to an etiquette class for young ladies. Oh, how delighted was I when I first stepped into the room of all proper young girls learning the do's and don'ts of society. Though I am not familiar with the ways of the Japanese, they sit with straight backs so I definitely approve of how they hold themselves up. They're hair is neatly tied back in braids, except that one hooligan with a ponytail. I hope she got a deduction in points for going against the rules! However, I did noticed that all the ladies are sitting with their hands nice and neatly in their laps. Very good, very proper of them. Though I don't know how I feel about them sitting on the floor...


102

Ah~ preparing the girls to become helpful and productive women in the world. I highly approve of this. They are being taught the womanly ways to be a good housewife. Their white aprons are in tip-top shape as well as having their long hair pulled back. Good and comfortable footwear is always important so I applaud them for their smart senses. Everything is organized by object so the necessary skills in the household are being well taught by the Japanese people.


134

These young girls are learning the helpful skill of being taught the feminine ways of sewing. They are all wearing such colorful clothing showing off their young and lively spirit, as well as their dedication to this fine art of sewing together materials. However, any smart American woman would remember to wear tighter sleeves in order to make no mistakes of getting one's clothing caught in a machine. And look at those braids. If they were all properly trained, a bun would be much better and less of a distraction. At least some girls were properly trained to do so. They all so serious, except the second on the far right. At least she has some appreciation for this fine art.


035

What is this madness?! Women who are playing such a physical sport?! Have they no respect or decency? I am well aware that women in the United States also play such a pointless sport, but I had more hope of the women of Japan. Oh how I am disappointed. They are wearing a white shirt that could easily get wrinkled - or even worse, dirty - as well as skirts that are just below the knee. What if the girls get too into the game and decide to jump for the ball? I mean, there is a man right there on the left-hand side watching. Probably a sick pervert trying to get a view of what the young ladies are wearing underneath their skirts. That, or he is the ball boy. Either way, he is probably disrespecting the ladies. There are many people watching in the crowd in a far off distance - most likely a mix of males and females.


064

Oh, Japan. I had such high hopes at the beginning of my trip on your etiquette. Letting girls to play such a man-ish sport is completely unheard of. They are playing in their school uniforms and in such a dirty environment as well. And that person in yellow pants, is that a man? Of course a man would allow young women to play such a thing. Their manners are not as superior to those of a woman, so they would bring women down to their level. Typical male.


*************************************************************************

For this assignment I took on the persona of an etiquette teacher from the United States. She is doing research on how the Japanese society was different compared to American society. She primarily focused on the school girls in her American school thus, she continued her ways over into Japan... this was the progress of her travels in Japan. She had set ideals based off the beginning of her trip, but as time when on, she started noticing how the Japanese girls were not fit to her model and thought of them as though they were not as mannered as the students in her school.

Tea + Hot Spring = Perfect Combination

Source!

So, in this photo, we have a bunch of women shifting through the tea leaves. The women look worn out and tired as though they have been working longer than a nine to five job (it probably was longer than nine to five). Looking at the skin and faces of the women sorting the leaves, one could easily tell that they are all of different age groups. We have what looks to be an obaasan (old woman/grandmother) in the middle area of the women, but a majority of the women look to be about the ages thirty-five to fifty-something. However, notice that there is a young child (difficult to tell what gender the child is) with the women, and a young adult looking woman at the right closest to the audience. Although the women in this group are primarily older, there are some younger people involved in this duty. The majority of the women's gaze are either down at the leaves (regretting their life choices possibly). Only two of the women are looking up, neither at the audience. The one (closest to the audience) looks as though she is taking a break from the hard work; whereas the other woman is looking straight into the distance. Her mouth is opened so that could be an indicator that she was in the process of speaking to another worker or simply talking to herself. The men, however, seem to be supervising/checking out the women, except the one closest to the women (hands on his hips). That man is staring directly at the audience. Given the man's body position, one could assume that he is the boss or of a higher position compared to the others in the picture. This picture represents how hard the employees in rural Japan worked. All the women look drained of energy but they are still continuing with their work with only one member of the group taking a break. The men are all standing up and not sorting through the leaves; this gives the impression that they are of higher status in this production line. And the child represents the curiosity (based on facial expression) that the younger generation had of the workforce.

Now, let's go take a trip to the hot springs since we are done with sorting leaves!


Sources?

So relaxing, no? This hot spring is located in the Hakone area. It was an ideal location for the foreigners to stay at during their stay in Japan for it was a lavish hotel developed around hot springs, perfect for those long trips to Fuji-san (Mt. Fuji). Notice how the Japanese used the surrounding nature as an influence on the structural design. It was built within the forest to produce the scenic view if the guests were to look out their windows and to give that feeling of privacy. It was away (who knows how far out back then) from the city to add to the feeling of privacy. If you look, only the rooftop of one of the building sections could be seen from this angle. Because this hot spring is surrounded by all the trees with no visual indicator of city nearby, it represents the once isolation of Japan from the outside world. Unlike the many hotels popping up to cater to the globetrotters, this hotel/hot spring stayed true to the Japanese style of architecture to attract the globetrotters, who may have wanted the "traditional" Japanese style instead of the "modern" Japanese hotels.