
The beauty of Japanese tattoos is that you can go well beyond symbols or small, meaningful signs, and create masterful pieces that can cover large areas of your body. For instance, many images can portray beautiful outdoor scenes with large billowy clouds, wind or even fantastic, old fashioned scenes of a wavy ocean.


Another thing to keep in mind is placement. For instance a hikae, or chest panel tattoo, is a classic placement. This tattoo starts at the chest and blends out into the shoulder, and often down the arm. A nagasode tattoo is considered a “sleeve” piece and starts under the shoulder and down to the wrist, while a shichibu is 7/10ths of the sleeve and gobu is 5/10ths.

Japanese Tattoos, Designs: Japanese Tattoo Art