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Irezumi (入れ墨, lit. ' inserting ink ') (also spelled 入墨 or sometimes 刺青) is the Japanese word for tattoo, and is used in English to refer to a distinctive style of Japanese tattooing, though it is also used as a blanket term to describe a number of tattoo styles originating in Japan, including tattooing traditions from both the Ainu people and the Ryukyuan Kingdom.
Nakano was inspired when he saw a Yakuza (Japanese gangster) with a full-body tattoo in a public bathhouse when he was a young boy, "about eleven or twelve." [3] This inspired him to visit legendary tattoo artist Yoshitsugu Muramatsu, also known as Shodai Horiyoshi of Yokohama. [4]
By the early 21st century, tattoos were stigmatized in Japanese culture, and many Japanese associated them with the Yakuza. [4] However, there was a movement to revive the practice as a symbol of female empowerment and of their Ryukyuan cultural heritage. [ 4 ]
Within the series, Goda is the patriarch of the Go-Ryu Clan, an organized crime yakuza group that is a subsidiary of the Omi Alliance, the dominant yakuza association based in Osaka. Ryuji is the adopted son of Jin Goda, chairman of the Omi Alliance, and is often referred to as the "Dragon of Kansai" ( 関西の龍 , Kansai no Ryū ) due to the ...
Many yakuza have full-body tattoos (including their genitalia). These tattoos, known as irezumi in Japan, are still often "hand-poked", that is, the ink is inserted beneath the skin using non-electrical, hand-made, and handheld tools with needles of sharpened bamboo or steel. The procedure is expensive and painful, and can take years to complete.
Dealers of card or dice games often displayed these full-body tattoos shirtless while playing. This eventually led to the modern yakuza tradition of full-body tattooing. [1] [4] Bakuto were also responsible for introducing the tradition of yubitsume, or self-mutilation as a form of apology, to yakuza culture. [3] [4] [5]
Kazuma Kiryu (Japanese: 桐生 一馬, Hepburn: Kiryū Kazuma) is a fictional character and the initial main protagonist of Sega's action-adventure beat 'em up Japanese role-playing game series Yakuza / Like a Dragon.
Men of tattoo communities are expected to be "heavily tattooed", meaning there are many tattoos which cover multiple parts of the body, and express aggressive or masculine images, such as skulls, zombies, or dragons. Women, on the other hand, are expected to be "lightly tattooed".