Sunday, 22 August 2010

Irezumi - Yakuza Tattoo

I did a yakuza tattooed FR Homme doll a couple of years ago and found the world of these notorious Japanese tattoos fascinating. Today, I got an inspiration for a new yakuza tattoo and had an extra FR Homme body around to use as canvas. I bought a Hot Toys Goemon Saizo head to complete the doll. I think this tattoo came out better than the first one as I researched lots of ukiyo-e and yakuza symbolics in order to create it. 

My first yakuza tattoo doll

The new yakuza body tattoo from front and rear
 Shoulder details, an octopus and a snake
 Carp details on his thighs and side
On the left is the first yakuza tattoo I made. A dragon as the character is a leader of his clan and dragon symbolises power. On the right is the new yakuza tattoo. A tiger for fearlessness as the character is an assassin for his clan. I think the new one is technically better too. I'm pondering whether or not to repaint the old one as the dragon looks rather silly really.
What do you think?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Emilia: great work it looks very cool

em`lia said...

Cheers! :D