The evolution of the horimono and the first professional tattooists

A revitalization of the entertainment industry is occurring and government relaxes controls on tattoosThe new technology evolves more rapidly, allowing for the emergence of the The first professional tattoo artists, who were often the same carvers who engraved the Ukiyo-e style plates.

With this, at the beginning of the century, tattoos covering arms and shoulders became fashionable, known as datebori.  

And in the 1820s the horimono assumes a form quite similar to what we know today as traditional Japanese tattooing.The typical black backgrounds of water and air combined with elements of nature, so characteristic of the Japanese style, appear, called gakubori o mikiri.

Kunichika Toyohara 1835-1900. Snake tattoo - Edo Fireman

Bibliography

• Wikipedia - Tatuaje_penal_o_irezumi
• Moriarty, Yori. (2015) : Irezumi Itai. Traditional Japanese Tattooing. Gijón, Satori Ediciones.
• Pinheiro Maués, Juliana (2019): Bravos citadinos: estudo das representações da tatuagem em estampas de ator do kabuki de Utagawa Kunisada. Repositório da produção científica e intelectual da Unicamp.