Have tattoos been common among Japanese people since ancient times? When did the current tattoo culture disappear? fashion?
2024-01-07
Category:Japanese culture
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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 Sake is said to have originated from southern China's Shaoxing wine, which was originally made from sake-brewing technology that was brought to Japan.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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Yellowtail is caught in various places in Japan, but it is said that the yellowtail caught in the area of Himi in Toyama Prefecture is the highest in Japan, and the reason for this is that melted snow from the Tateyama Mountain Range covers most of the areas where humans live. Because the yellowtail is nurtured in the mineral-rich seawater that flows into Himi Bay without passing through the water, it becomes a delicious yellowtail that is incomparable to any other. Japan's fishing industry has been carried out based on careful consideration of the fishing grounds, even the river water that flows from the mountains, and the knowledge of the temperature and temperature that changes depending on the seasonal flow of ocean currents.
Looking at the reactions of China and South Korea regarding the Fukushima treated water issue, it appears that although both countries have nuclear power plants, they do not have the engineers to develop the fundamentals. They probably purchased equipment from overseas, installed it, learned how to operate it, and then started generating electricity. Even if we say that we are building a nuclear power plant in our own country, we are not talking about the basic parts, we are doing things like minor changes in a car, but we are not talking about the actual radioactive materials, what is contained in the cooling water, etc. doesn't seem to know.
People are crying out that their country's fishing industry will suffer catastrophic damage, but Japan is one of the leading environmental conservation countries among developed countries and knows everything about fish ecology, ocean currents, and seasonal changes. It is safe to say that there is nothing to learn from China and South Korea. Then, the release into the ocean was started in collaboration with an international organization.
For the next 30 years, China and South Korea will live in fear of radioactivity, but this is not a problem that Japan perceives. Japan can only properly overcome the unprecedented nuclear power plant accident, release treated water, and continue its life as a maritime nation that catches delicious fish as before.
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.