04/12/2025
*日本語は英文の下にあります
Koi have been a familiar presence in Japanese life for thousands of years.
In the Jōmon period (over 15,000 years ago), they were an essential food source that helped shape the bodies of the Japanese people.
From the Edo period onward, koi came to be appreciated for their beauty — inspiring aesthetic sensibilities, offering emotional strength through their vitality, and becoming symbols of children’s growth and good fortune.
It was only natural that koi eventually became a motif in traditional irezumi:
a symbol of resilience, personal meaning, and auspicious wishes carried on the skin.
The above is a very general overview of koi in Japanese culture and tattoo history.
Deeper interpretations, stories, and symbolic nuances vary slightly from clan to clan and from artist to artist — knowledge that is often kept within each lineage.
Traditional culture carries a nation’s history, spirit, emotions, and prayers within it.
In classical irezumi, koi are often paired with maple leaves.
Ginkgo leaves, while not traditionally used with koi (at least not in my lineage), also symbolize autumn.
I added a few ginkgo leaves as a form of haboku — embracing the spirit of breaking form while honoring tradition.
All done by Tebori and Tegaki (freehand).
Nobori-goi (koi swimming upstream), Hikae Shichi-bu (3/4 sleeve) completed.
鯉は日本人にとって身近な存在であり古くからは縄文時代(15000年前)に食用として日本人の体を作り、江戸時代からは観賞用として風情を楽しみ、その美しさに芸術的感性を刺激され、時には鯉の生命力の強さに励まされ、子供の成長を願う象徴とされ、縁起の良いものとして慣れ親しんで来ました。
そして鯉の生命力や力強さに肖る、縁起物の験担ぎとして、或いは個人的な意味を込めて鯉の刺青を入れるようになったのは自然な成り行きであったと推測します。
上記はごく一般的な日本における鯉と刺青の歴史です。これより深い意味や逸話等は各一門や彫師さん毎に多少異なりそれぞれの秘密の知識です。
伝統文化にはその国の歴史、精神性、想いそして祈りが込められています。
通常刺青の鯉にはモミジで、イチョウは日本伝統刺青に使われる事は私の知る限り見た事ないが、同じ秋の紅葉を象徴する葉なので破墨の精神を込めて数枚追加しました。
手描き総手彫り。昇り鯉控え七部完成。
Booking request, Watch my works in motion — link in bio.
ご予約、動画での制作風景はプロフィールリンクよりご覧ください
Art
Japanese Tattoo Meaning
Sponsored by:
