Art, Japanese Tattoo Art,

 
Today; I found myself at a loss as to what to ‘do’ for Art Sunday.
 (Hence the lateness of this post)

And then I had a conversation with my daughter about tattoos and as usual one thing led to another. I started looking at tattoo art and then at specifically Japanese tattoo art.

Tattoo art has become an art form in itself, and the Japanese seem to have taken this art form and produced designs which are a wonderful mix of contemporary and traditional Japanese Art. This led me to thinking about the vast range of ‘Japanese Art’.

This is what wikepedia says about Japanese art

''Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art. ''

''It also has a long history, ranging from the beginnings of human habitation in Japan, sometime in the 10th millennium BC, to the present.''
Read on…..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_art

It's the bit about ‘’wide range of styles and media’’ that interests me. One of the most traditional and possibly the most well known Art form from Japan is the Dance, costume, make up and general phenomenon of the Geisha Girl.

I could see a connection between the stylised white faces of the Geisha and the stylised flowers of todays tattoo design, as if one is directly descended from the other.
Another reason this post is so late is because, once started on that train of thought; I became mesmerised by a six part BBC documentary about a young 15 year old school girl, in modern Japan, who made the extraordinary decision to quit school and train as a Geisha. She had to leave home and have no contact with her family for the initial 6 month training period.

After the first 6 months she was tested on every thing she had learnt to see if she was good enough to become a Maiko and start the 5 year apprentice to become a Geisha. (Maiko being a Geisha in training). The whole documentary takes more than an hour which is why I’m not posting it, but if you can spare the time, it’s fascinating and found here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrDGTUm2vBc

The video below shows how the traditional white face, neck and chest with red and black touches around the eyes and mouth is achieved.

Video; Maiko or geisha putting on face make-up in Kyoto.

And then, last but not least…………..lets not forget Origami

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on May 23, '11 brendainmad said I did a lesson once on Japanese tattoos and fashion wow, you could do a whole new blog on japanes fashion, that would be interesting.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on May 23, '11 I did a lesson once on Japanese tattoos and fashion, especially the girls that go blonde and get golden tans with some of my students.

delete reply mitchylr wrote on May 23, '11 Amazingly beautiful tattoo art, so much better than the ones you usually see over here.

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on May 23, '11 Very colourful things here from Japan. I thought the green ball that could concertina was awesome in the origami vid. The others were also amazing.

delete reply rabbitfriendhere wrote on May 22, '11, edited on May 23, '11 Beautiful tattoo art! I loved the origami, especially the rat. I wonder what it would feel like having all that face paint on. :)

delete reply artprevails wrote on May 22, '11 Thank you for this array of information and visuals!

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on May 22, '11 It is hugely fascinating :)) I was fortunate enough to travel to Japan when I was 14, with my parents, to visit our Japanese friends, I loved it! We were dressed one day in traditional kimonos, there is one for each stage of your life as a woman.. I was dressed in a young girls one, etc ... not very comfortable lol! beautiful country, I hope to go back one day

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on May 22, '11 hedgewitch9 said love Japanese art of all forms! Hi Emma, yep think I do too, learnt a lot today by watching those videos, did you know that the original reason for whitening the faces was to make them stand out in candle lit rooms that were very dim. And they used to blacken their teeth because often the teeth would look yellow against the white skin and blackened teeth would seem to disappear into the mouth in a dimly lit room. Its all fascinating.

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on May 22, '11 I love Japanese art of all forms! I also have a small tattoo ( I have 4 altogether) which is the Japanese symbol for energy, or ''Ki'' .. which I found in a book of Japanese patterns :))

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on May 22, '11 lovely and natural :)

delete reply greenwytch wrote on May 22, '11 a beautifull Art Sunday! thanks, Loretta!