Tattoo by Horiyoshi III? Looks like his style 
“The insides of upper arms are usually hidden from eyes of other people. Inner upper arms are the place for fun tattooing or joke tattooing. In other words, people who see are limited to your family and/or your lover. Most designs are erotica but I have heard of some people who have tattooed Picachu or Doraemon. I have had erotica tattooed but I think they are very artistic.”
Yoso has a crane, to symbolise his life partner. Now We’re wondering if the concept of Kakushiboru could also be applied to inner tights, or pretty much any area that people do not see when looking at you from the ‘outside’. True that near the arm pit, especially on your left hand side, is closed to your heart! having a ‘secret’, ‘intimate tattoo there’, really brings some magic to your life. It is very close to your ‘inner self’ for the rest of the journey.
Does anyone know? Please leave your comments!
Thank you! Arigato!
Y.
:: via Irezumi.is
5 Comments
Hi Yoso !
Fun you post this after we spoke about it yesterday. As for the tigh, I guess it depends : interior tigh from a bit muscled persons touch one another, so I guess in this case, kakushibori applies.
This is something I will certainly do myself, at least. Moreover, when I go swimming or such, I always put an half long bath short (the kind of things you can see on swimming competitions, though I do not participate those), which makes me quite certain very very very few people will see those.
As for the picture you show, it takes me back to a question about which I’ve been wondering for some time : were does the uninked armpit come from, in traditional japanese tattoos ? Is it for hygienic reasons ? Or for the pain on this part ? Or something else ?
I saw armpits covered on a few japanese tattoos (like Yoko’s one, by Shige ; but as fantastic as I believe his work is, it may not exactly be considered traditional, but more of japanese new school), but most japanese traditional inking I saw left more or less big blanks on the armpits… and I’ve never really found the reason behind this. Could you enlighten me, towards this subject ?
Yes, our conversation inspired me to tell about Kakushi-bori! Definitely one of my favourites parts in Japanese Tattoo. Regarding the blank armpit, actually it can be a lot more than the armpit itself. As far as I am aware traditionally, part of the inner upper arm was left blank to prove that the tattoo had not been designed to cover a ‘criminal’, our ‘outlaw tattoo’. There is a theory that says that ‘Traditional Japanese Tattoo’ would have evolved to what it is today, Because so many ‘outlaws’ tattoos had to be covered. Note, that does not mean there wasn’t any form of tattooing in Japan before that! Like many things in Japan, during the Edo. It is almost as if what happened before did not exist anymore. Probably due to the emperor? Historians? Or a will to stamp things as Japanese.
I’ll have to compile all the stuff I have collected about Tattoo in Japan. It would actually go back to 500 BC. if not more. However, this does not belong to what people call ‘traditional Japanese tattoo’.
So what you suggest would be that criminals were at least tattoed on the inner upper arm for the punishment implying inking, hence leaving those parts uninked prooved the tattoos on “regular” people were not any cover-up from a criminal punishment one ?
I have searched quite a lot about japanese tattoos, and was well aware it had a very long history (far more ancient than Edo period indeed), but this armpits/upper-arms detail always bothered me
I had read that criminal received inking either with a caracter on the forehead, or with rings around the arms, and did not think the “around the arms” could mean it marked the inner arms. Interesting… Thanks, Yoso ! 
sometimes outer arm, sometimes inner arm,or face, various symbols and various tattoos, I think according to regions and type of ‘crimes’,and probably period too. If I remember too, it was not only for criminals but was also for some groups of people who were doing activities that were not considered ‘clean’. I.e. executioners. So, actually some kind of cast system. A little like the untouchables in India. If you find anymore info on this, or anything else, please send me a mail or leave a comment!
Y.
I actually have two words from my grandmother’s language (Ilonggo) written in a script I’d created, which now I forget what it reads
. So the joke is a little bit on me, but I remember the words were fortunate and not vulgar. No one sees it, and I think eve my friends don’t realize it’s there. I am going to have to remember this when I get the other arm done and hide something funny or strange there.