Tattooing the Tebori Way

This post I am doing is a really interesting topic to me and I’m sure it is to anyone else with tattoos as well. I have always been interested in tattoos and Japanese themed tattoos in particular due to their unique style with vivid eye catching lines and beautiful characters and symbols. My first tattoo was of a Koi Fish on my leg, and after the first one I’ll tell you what its addicting. Now on to the topic of today ‘Tebori” (手彫り) style of tattooing is an ancient art developed during the Edo period in Japan in which the artist does not use a traditional tattoo gun you would find in any local shops, but instead uses a stick with needles attached dipped in ink and proceeds to tattoo by hand with precise and pristine detail. Traditionally the tools used were bamboo for the stick and needles, but now most artists use titanium or steel tools so they can be properly sterilized.

According to the webpage most Tebori enthusiasts say that the process is not as painful as a regular tattooing with a gun and it states that apparently the after effects lead to a more natural look of the tattoo. Even though I have no experience to speak of the pain comparison I can for one say that the results are astronomically impressive and unarguably display the sheer skill of each artist.

Now before you get you hopes up finding a Tebori artists outside of Japan can be extremely hard seeing as that they are far a few between as you may expect of something that takes a very skilled hand in the traditional Japanese arts. Now this does not mean it’s impossible I only said extremely hard because like in the post the only two shops I could find that I would trust personally are Onizuka Tattoo in Las Angeles, CA and Stacy McCleaf of Chrome Gardens in Gettysburg, PA.

Now onto some more information when it comes to choosing a tattoo, it’s location, your artist, and the style you will be going with is as unique person to person as the tattoos themselves. I personally go with places that can be easily covered up by my everyday clothes and attire, and after researching on the common consensus of uncover-able tattoos I personally think you should hold off until you make sure your employer or possible future employers do not have any regulations regarding tattoo location. Otherwise the way I look at is it’s each persons own choice of what they put on their body. Now onto the artist and style, when it comes to this step you really want to do your homework and make sure the artist you choose can produce the results you are looking for, and keep in mind that the better the artist the more expensive the tattoo will be as they normally charge by the hour. As you can expect if you decide to go with a Tebori style tattoo you will be investing a lot of time and money, but you will not be disappointed.