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Practitioners of body art lament associations Japanese society makes with crime and yakuza gangs. But modern illustrations have other connotations.The Bunshin Tattoo Museum in Yokohama, Japan, is dedicated to the work of master Yoshihito Nakano, better known in the body art world as Horiyoshi III. His wife, Mayumi Nakano, presides over the institution.
Wearing a sleeveless blouse revealing floral illustrations from her wrists to her shoulders in bright reds, greens and yellows, she says she got her first tattoo at the age of 20 - at the hands of her husband.
"Tattoos are misunderstood in Japan," she says, surrounded by stencils of designs and photos of satisfied customers. "They've always been associated with underworld gangs, but I hoped that would change over time. Although they don't carry a stigma in other countries, Japanese society isn't ready to change."
Now 77, her husband says in interviews that he became fascinated with body art at the age of 11, 12, after seeing a member of the yakuza crime syndicate with traditional full-body tattoos. Learning from master Shodai Horiyoshi of Yokohama earned him the title Horiyoshi III.
A winner of several awards, he used to make the outlines for his designs by hand, only switching to electric machines in the 90s. Colors and shading are...