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Irebokuro means "inserted mole" and are black dot tattoos as a symbol of sentimental bonding. Eventually the practice spread throughout the country, even among the upper classes.
The polka dots were giving way to more elaborate shapes, such as words or names and have become known as kishoboriwhich means "tattoo offering" o "tattooed oath".
You may have searched for some symbols or images that best represent the love between you and the person in question. You may have even considered getting your loved one's name or initial tattooed, but maybe that's going too far.
You can't find the right symbol or element, but you are constantly looking for something you have in common.
The Irebokuro is the tattoo you are looking for.
Originating from Japanese decorative tattooing, this graphic symbol is mainly composed of one element.
And now you may be wondering....
What would you have in common with the person in question?
Let me tell you more...
At that time the country's society was divided into several castes. At the top was the samurai class, called "Bushi" or the most aristocratic. Then we were able to meet the merchant class, "Shōnin" and the artisan class, "Kōgyō", both gaining ground in that period thanks to the economic development of those years. In fact, history tells us that in the period between 1688 and 1704 the famous Genroku period flourished in Japan.
Kyoto, Osaka and Edo (now Tokyo) were the three centers where the economy was expanding rapidly and an urban culture was developing.
Social classes during the Edo period by Ozawa Nankoku
Not only that, in fact the merchant and artisan classes formed a group called "Chōnin", a new bourgeois class oriented to luxury and pleasure.
The term "Chōnin" derives from a Buddhist term meaning "world of suffering", but later adopted the meaning of "floating world".
Thanks to this new social class, teahouses, restaurants, the popular theater Kabuki and, finally, the so-called Kuruwa or "pleasure neighborhoods", spaces of transgression where the control of the authorities diminished.
Irebokuro, the couple's tattoo or love tattoo, was born not only from the actions performed by the Chōnin, but also from the family system of the time.
Let me tell you more...
In Japan during that period, marriages were arranged and considered an economic affair. Purely romantic love or one's own personal pleasures were sought by people in these pleasure quarters.
The practice of Irebokoru, couple or love tattoo, originated around the seventeenth century, in Kansai more specifically, in the districts of Osaka and Kyoto.
You should know that in Japan, tattoos were formerly used to mark and identify criminals.
Later, these criminals would be pushed to the margins of society by becoming part of the "Hinin" (non-human) social class, that part of society that included prostitutes, beggars and street criminals. Thus, at the beginning, tattoos in Japan had punitive purposes, being identified with the word "Hinin" (non-human). Irezumi.
Thanks to the development of pleasure quarters, the first decorative tattoo in the form of graphic expression was born, a form called Irebokuro.
The word Irebokuro translated means "inserted spot" or "applied nevus".
This couple tattoo, or love tattoo, was used to represent and express love in a special context of love, such as between a geisha and a client.
Initially, Irebokuro was performed by two lovers who tattooed a nevus (mole) or spot on the hand, more specifically between the thumb and wrist, at the exact point where the fingers of both of them rest, when the two hold hands.
Thus, as soon as the handshake occurred, the thumb of each person overlapped the point or nevus of the other person's hand.
I can also tell you that Irebokuro seems to have existed also in the Meiji period among the Yujō, prostitutes present in the port cities of Toba and Shimoda. Another testimony I can provide is that of the writer Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693), during the ninth year of Genroku, in 1697. In his novels the Japanese writer Saikaku, speaks of the tattoo of couple or tattoo of love, the Irebokoru.
But not only that.
In the book entitled Kakutsū yūshi (Wanderers of the Pleasure District) by Seishōtei Rankō, published in 1797, there is an illustration by Utagawa Kunimasa (1773-1810), depicting a courtesan seated next to a paper lantern with her right arm outstretched, while revealing signs of tattooing to a man.
Another characteristic example of the Japanese couple or love tattoo is illustrated in the book Yoshiwara jūni-toki, "Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara," which depicts the twelve scenes of daily life in Yoshiwara.
Each scene is accompanied by an appropriate literary sketch by author Ishikawa Masamochi (1753-1830).
However, Irebokuro, the couple's tattoo, is also identified with other terminology found in the Kansai region, such as hori-ire or mon-mon.
The term "Gaman", meaning "endurance" or "perseverance", was added later by Iizawa, a quote found in the book Irezumi by Willem R. Van Gulik, probably originated from the fact that it was necessary to endure the pain felt during the practice of tattooing and the demonstration of perseverance that the person had to show during the tattoo.
