Have tattoos been common among Japanese people since ancient times? When did the current tattoo culture disappear? fashion?
2024-01-07
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Japan has had a tattoo culture since ancient times.
You may hear people say that Japan does not have a culture of tattooing, but tattooing is actually an ancient Japanese culture. In Gishi Wajinden, it is written that Wa people liked tattoos, and both men and women had tattoos on their faces and all over their bodies. People in China and the peninsula don't have tattoos. It is said that these things are not done due to Confucianism. This is not a recommendation. People who don't want to don't have to.
Influence from southern Asia?
Many cultures were introduced to Japan from southern China, and there were people living in what is now Southeast Asia in the southern part. The method of preserving fish in vinegared rice, which is the origin of sushi, is said to have come from Southeast Asia, where tattoos are common. Sake is said to have originated from southern China's Shaoxing wine, which was originally made from sake-brewing technology that was brought to Japan. Northern China has a field farming culture, and southern China has a rice farming culture.
Tattoos that have been banned since the Meiji era
Tattoos began to be banned in Japan due to the influence of Confucianism. Even so, Toyama Kinshiro Kagemoto of Toyama Kin-san had a tattoo. Even judges had tattoos back then. It is said that tattoos were completely banned after the Meiji Restoration. The reason is for westernization. Even in the West, some people got tattoos, but they were only one-point tattoos, and they were not tattoos that covered the entire body like in Japan at the time. Amid these regulations, Japan's tattoo culture was inherited by the world of chivalry.
Read it together
Sphinx and Nagaoki Ikeda. Samurai takes a commemorative photo of Egypt and visits the Suez Canal
Mysterious group of samurai in front of the Sphinx
Goes to France to apologize for Idogaya Incident
The Suez Canal is a huge waterway for the colonization of Asia
Edo shogunate that canceled the Paris Agreement
Edo shogunate's country opening theory
The first photo was taken by a samurai in front of the Sphinx in Egypt. It is often introduced as a humorous image. In the scorching heat of Egypt, wearing a crested hakama seems to convey the heat. The second photo is Nagafuku Ikeda, a foreign magistrate of the Edo Shogunate who was participating in this group.
In 1863, the Idogaya Incident occurred in Japan, where three ronin, believed to be members of the Joi group, murdered a French military officer near Yokohama. A 34-person delegation, including Nagafatsu Ikeda, traveled to France to apologize and make peace with the incident.
The group arrived in Paris, had an audience with Emperor Napoleon III, apologized to the French government for the incident, and paid 195,000 francs in support to the family.
The 34-member delegation arrived in Cairo from Suez via India from Shanghai on their way to Paris, where they posed for a commemorative photo in front of the Sphinx. This is a picture of a samurai in front of the Sphinx.
The Suez Canal is an bypass built by France to allow ships from Europe to go to Asia without passing through Cape Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Ikeda and his colleagues inspected it.
Afterwards, reconciliation with France was reached in Paris, and the group, recognizing the power of Western civilization, signed the Treaty of Paris, which promised the opening of three ports, including Yokohama, as free ports.
The Edo shogunate ordered a mission to negotiate the closure of Yokohama Port, but this was difficult due to French resistance. Nagafuku Ikeda, seeing the strength of Western culture, abandoned negotiations and concluded the Treaty of Paris.
After returning to Japan, Nagafuku Ikeda appealed to the shogunate about the importance of opening the country, but it was not accepted, and the shogunate, which had a policy of closing ports, canceled the Treaty of Paris, and as punishment, Ikeda's stone allowance was cut in half. Although Ikeda was later forgiven and returned to politics, he soon resigned from his post and died at the age of 42. What kind of truth did Ikeda see during this trip?
Ikeda Nagafuku, as a member of the Edo Shogunate, called for the opening of the country. He was a member of the shogunate, which was on the opposite side of Sakamoto Ryoma, Katsu Kaishu, and Saigo Takamori, who started the Meiji Restoration. It can be said that the scale of the Western Industrial Revolution was shocking.
The Meiji Restoration side looked overseas and considered the future of Japan, but the Edo shogunate tried to maintain isolation and the shogunate system. Ikeda, who saw the West with his own eyes, felt the same feeling as the young people on the Meiji Restoration side.
Enactment of the Organized Crime Countermeasures Act
Due to this background, tattoos came to be considered anti-social forces. This is now called Japanese culture. Furthermore, in Japan, the anti-organized crime law was enacted in １９９２, placing significant restrictions on the activities of anti-social forces in general society, and these groups are currently on the decline, with public baths now being sought after in the city. You no longer see people who were once members of organized crime groups.
Public baths where you cannot enter if you have a tattoo
Young people in Japan now have tattoos as a fashion item. In other words, they seem to be trying to create their own individuality by drawing something on their bodies, just like the Japanese of old. The pattern is a so-called tattoo that looks good on clothes. Tourists coming from foreign countries are told that if they have a tattoo, they won't be able to go to the traditional Japanese hot springs that they were looking forward to, so they wrap them in some kind of cloth to hide it, but they are told that the cloth is also bad. It seems that there are cases where the application is refused. On the contrary, it is said that young Japanese people with tattoos cannot go to hot springs, which is a part of Japanese culture.
Is it OK for men to take women's baths?
You may be wondering what I'm trying to say, but Japanese people need to protect the culture of public baths, which is unique to Japan, in a healthy manner. Nowadays, it seems that men who are women at heart are thinking about how to bathe women.
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Japanese food culture favoring raw food - A unique food culture in the world is supported by soy sauce.
Japanese food culture of eating raw fish
Unique Japanese soy sauce
Relationship between soy sauce and raw dishes
Soy sauce creates Japanese food culture
The Japanese people are said to have a unique culture of eating raw fish, and their food culture, typified by sushi, is being introduced to the world. If you think about it carefully, even Japanese people do not eat sashimi as is. If you don't use soy sauce, the sashimi will just be fishy and dry and you won't be able to eat it, and conversely, you won't use anything other than soy sauce for sashimi. Japanese people might think that American sushi uses mayonnaise or chili sauce, which completely eliminates the flavor of the ingredients.
If you think about it that way, soy sauce exists in many Asian countries, but Japanese soy sauce is also uniquely Japanese. One of the basics of Japanese cuisine is ``sashisu seso,'' which means sugar, salt, vinegar, soy sauce, and miso. These are used as the base flavor of various Japanese dishes. Many people may have noticed the smell of soy sauce at the airport when they returned to Japan from overseas.
Soy sauce is an essential seasoning for Japanese cuisine. Japan seems to be a rare country where people eat raw eggs. What I realized is that even Japanese people do not eat raw eggs as is. You can eat it for the first time by putting it on rice and pouring soy sauce on it.
In Japan, there is a culture of eating raw vegetables. Even in the West, we eat fresh raw vegetables such as salads. On the other hand, in China there is no culture of eating raw vegetables. From a Chinese perspective, it's hard to eat raw vegetables. You may be thinking.
In any case, it can be said that the culture of eating raw fish and raw eggs was first established in Japan with soy sauce. Soy sauce is used in all Japanese cuisine to enhance the flavor of the ingredients without overpowering them. It can be said that foreigners visiting Japan are experiencing the natural flavor of fish brought out by Japanese soy sauce.
The fact that Japanese people prefer raw ingredients is actually deeply connected to the invisible seasoning called soy sauce. Conversely, Japanese soy sauce is almost always used when eating raw ingredients. On the other hand, I feel that no matter how many other seasonings you use in the world, you can't make raw fish or raw eggs delicious.
The danger of Japanese public opinion as a debate develops over the glorification of war following the comments made by athlete Hayata Hina
When asked "What do you want to do now?" at a press conference, Hayata Hina, a medalist in table tennis at the Paris Olympics, answered, "I want to go to the Kagoshima Kamikaze Museum. Because I want to feel that being alive and being able to play table tennis is not something to be taken for granted." This has caused a bit of a stir. Most opinions are praising her, but it seems that a commentator named Furuichi said something unnecessary and caused a stir.
In China, it is said that national team players unfollowed Hayata on Weibo, and it is questionable how they knew about it so quickly, but since Chinese players are truly national representatives, it is best to assume that they will be used for political purposes. This topic seems to have developed beyond what Hayata said into a discussion of whether past wars are glorified. It is better to know that the term "glorifying war" is a term used by the continent and the peninsula.
For the continental peninsula, it doesn't matter what that war was like for Japan or what its purpose was. Many Japanese people have simply been imprinted with the idea that it was all Japan's fault and have internalized that belief. Therefore, when something like Hayata's remarks come out, they instinctively jump to the conclusion that it should be glorified or not. In other words, there is no in-between. Before even evaluating past wars, it seems that many Japanese people only receive biased information about how past wars occurred, and this will not lead to a good outcome.
This may seem sudden, but have you ever seen Hideki Tojo's suicide note? He was a man who led the war at the time and was sentenced to death at the Tokyo Trials after the war.
Here is an excerpt from Hideki Tojo's suicide note.
Will the issue of separate surnames for married couples change the concept of family in Japan?The issue is not gender equality but the concept of ``home'' that is unique to Japan.
The issue of selective marital separation has recently become a hot topic in Japan. Japan is the only country in the world that has a family registration system that stipulates husband and wife status by law.
A growing number of people are arguing that this is gender discrimination and that it is acceptable for couples to have different surnames. The origin of the problem is that when a woman gets married, she usually takes the man's surname, so it is difficult to use her maiden name at work, or to change information in social procedures, banking, and various other contracts.
However, it is logically incorrect to view this as gender discrimination. This is because under the current law, equality is guaranteed because the surname must be chosen from either a man or a woman. The question becomes what it means for a husband and wife to use the same surname.
In Japan, the concept of family has been around since ancient times, and when you get married, you move into a family. A married woman moves into a man's house and becomes part of his family. There is a cultural background that makes her a member of the family, including her ancestors. The child born there will take the family name of that family. Uji means belonging to the same group, and dates back to the surname system in ancient times.
Japanese people are taught to respect the concept of home and to act in a way that lives up to the name of home. A family crest is a symbol of a family.
In the West, the idea seems to be a little different. Children seem to think that they belong to both the father's and mother's families. In this case, there are four grandfathers and grandmothers, and they belong to the four people. I wonder if the next idea will be to belong to eight people. If you go back in time, you will belong to 100 people.
In other words, the way of thinking about Japanese houses is completely different. In Japan, people search for their ancestors by tracing one family line. In this respect, the opinion that we should refer to Western countries seems to be a rather wild opinion.
Japan has the imperial family as a symbol of the family. The issue of separate family names for married couples and the issue of male lineage inheritance seem to be unrelated, but they are closely related.
The imperial family has stubbornly protected the traditional Japanese concept of home. Joining the imperial family means joining the imperial family. As a unique entity, the imperial family does not have a clan. When a male member of the imperial family marries, the woman he marries loses his family name.
This is stipulated in the Imperial House Law, but when a female member of the imperial family marries and becomes a commoner, like Her Imperial Highness Princess Mako, or a former female member of the imperial family says she does not want to take her husband's name, she is considered a commoner. If current laws are followed, will women remain members of the imperial family? Or will they live a normal life without having a surname?
The Liberal Democratic Party is reluctant to promote separate marriages. This is also because we see it as a problem not with gender equality, but with Japan's unique cultural background and the concept of the Japanese home, which is the foundation of society. Japan has an imperial family that has been connected uninterrupted since recorded history, unlike any other country in the world. Japan has a history of following this model of inheritance.
Osaka and the Meiji Restoration - Koan Ogata's Tekijuku, the roots of Osaka University where Yukichi Fukuzawa also attended, still exists in Osaka.
When I researched Osaka and the end of the Edo period, I discovered that there was a school called Tekijuku, which was founded by Koan Ogata to study Dutch studies. It seems to have roots in Osaka University. Japan at the time was isolated from the rest of the world, trading with the Netherlands through Nagasaki, and receiving academic information from the Netherlands about the world. This was called Dutch studies. Koan Ogata is said to be the father of modern medicine in Japan, and even appears in the popular drama ``JIN.'' Yukichi Fukuzawa also entered Tekijuku in Osaka at the age of 20 to study Dutch studies.
Keio University appears to be based on the former Dutch Studies School. In Japan, learning was carried out in small cram schools and terakoya like this one. They were not in the position of teacher and student in the current educational system, but rather had a close relationship between teacher and student. Learning flowed from the source to the disciples, and had the energy to directly change the country and society.
Seoul National University was formerly an imperial university and was established in 1924 as Gyeongseong Imperial University. It is said that Japan brought modern learning to the Korean peninsula, but what is the true story? In other words, there was no teacher-disciple relationship that aimed to enrich the Korean peninsula.
I have heard that Seoul National University is the best academic institution in South Korea, but what do you think about the origins of the university and its academic activities?
In any case, education during the Japanese colonial period on the Korean peninsula was the same as it is today. If we were to call this a science, it would be completely different.
Surprisingly few countries see the first sunrise of the year - The arrival of sunlight in Japan is connected to the sun worshiping Amaterasu Omikami
When I looked into how many countries have the custom of watching the first sunrise of the year, I found that it was fewer than I expected, with countries such as Mongolia, South Korea, Russia, the United States, and Canada mentioned. It is said that Russia, the United States, Canada, and other countries have a culture that spread from the Arctic Circle, so it is a so-called Inuit culture. There is a connection because the Inuit are said to be Mongoloids.
It is unclear why this custom spread to Korea, but the prevailing theory is that Japan's ethnic roots are Mongoloid or Caucasian, and I have seen the genetic theory of Lake Baikal. Although Lake Baikal is now part of Russia, it is thought that Mongoloid people lived at that time as well, and Kyrgyz folklore says that it was the Japanese who moved east and the Kyrgyz who moved west. . Even Japanese people are surprised at how similar Kyrgyz people are to Japanese people.
In Japan in particular, the first sunrise is also called goraiko and is considered a blessing, as it is associated with ancient Japanese beliefs. Japan's national flag is the Japanese flag and the sun. The Rising Sun Flag also has a deformed sun design to make it stand out. What does this originate from? It is a belief in the sun, which is a belief in nature. In other words, Amaterasu Omikami. Amaterasu Omikami, said to be the origin of the imperial lineage, is enshrined at Ise Grand Shrine, and there are many shrines dedicated to Amaterasu Omikami in various places. Currently, there is a debate about male-lineal succession, but if you trace the paternal lineage, you will reach the first emperor, Emperor Jimmu, and in fact, in mythology, you will reach Amaterasu Omikami. This has been the legitimate imperial line in Japan since the beginning of recorded history.
The reason that many Japanese people raise the national flag and sing the national anthem without learning anything about the history of the national flag and the Emperor (Imperial lineage), which are considered symbols of Japan, is a problem of education. Why aren't these basic things taught in elementary school? Taking up the Amanoiwato myth, the imperial lineage is written from Amaterasu Omikami, the sun god, and the sun is depicted on the Japanese flag. It's that simple.
The prohibition on religious education under the Constitution only prohibits propagating or excluding a specific religion, recommending conversion to any religion, or denying religion itself. There is no problem if you explain the customs and culture of the beginning of the year, such as Christmas, New Year's Eve bell, and the first sunrise of the year. At least many Japanese people enjoy Christmas, listen to New Year's Eve bells on New Year's Eve, and visit shrines on New Year's Day.
