rhyno @rhy-no - Tumblr Blog

atmeal012

fmtownsmarty

http://i.imgur.com/3Dr9FSA.gif

cma-japanese-art

Carp Swimming by Water Weeds, Katsushika Hokusai, 1831, Cleveland Museum of Art: Japanese Art

Size: Sheet: 24.2 x 29.2 cm (9 ½ x 11 ½ in.) Medium: color woodblock print; fan

https://clevelandart.org/art/1943.3

irezumilover

Genshoku Nihon Shisei Taikan- The Ultimate Tattoo Book

I recently saw one of these sell on Ebay for over 200 bucks, and the auction reminded me of this book that I recently looked at New York Public Library. Published in 1973, Taikan includes many pictures of Japanese Tattoo masters prominent during the 70s, 80s, and even 60s. There are both color and black and white photos, mostly full body and bust shots but also pictures of artists working and festival pictures. The pictures are some of the best examples of purely traditional Japanese tattooing I’ve seen, complex and executed with the traditional colors of black, red, and brown with some green. There is also a good dose of tattoo history. If you look at the bibliography of a lot of books’ Japanese tattoo history, this book is usually listed, and remains an accepted authority on the subject of Japanese Tattooing. The pictures are just eye candy, and artists featured include old school masters Horiuno, Horigoro, Horiyoshi II, and Horikin. I had written down which artists did the tattoos for the photos I took, but unfortunately that list is long gone.

The first image is stock, as the library does not loan out the rare books with their jackets/cardboard covers still on. I was surprised how well some of the pictures came out. They were taken with the only camera I had available on hand- a crappy 3DS camera that loudly sounded with every picture it took. But after a while, I stopped paying attention to the camera snapshot sound and became engrossed in a book I’ve been itching to look at for five years. When I first requested it a few years back, I did not know it had to be requested offsite first, so I only could look at Horiyoshi’s World (a fine feast for the eyes by itself). It will likely still be some time before I can procure a copy for myself, as this book’s reputation precedes itself. I will write more as I upload more photos.