| |
Japanese tattoos have become very popular in the western world, and tattoo designers are constantly creating new designs to attract the young with a style of body art that's rich with symbolism belonging to the ancient world.
There are various options available in choosing the right Japanese tattoo you want, and before you choose your option, it is very much required to know what you are looking for. You need to know the exact meaning of the Japanese tattoo that you would be wearing, and you should always visit a tattooist who is fully conversant with Japanese tattoos. Whatever you opt to wear, the meaning of the tattoo must be accurately known to you, and for this you need your tattoo designer to be fully aware of the different kinds of writings found in Japanese language.
The major part of Japanese tattoos belongs to the symbols of Japanese characters which can be categorized as below: |
|
|
| |
Kanji:
The Kanji set of characters were first adopted by the Japanese from China, which were modified to form a part of Japanese culture. The characters belonging to Kanji are more expressive than the others, and for their artistic appearance Kanji has been used as tattoos. It is said that, there are 50,000 individual characters in Kanji, with each having a specific idea or meaning. The combination of these characters form a beautiful work of design, and such tattoos bring about a unique work of art that expresses a wide variety of ideas and messages.
Hiragana:
While Kanji is not used regularly in Japanese writing, Hiragana is a style of writing existing in everyday Japanese life. The style could be found in Japanese magazines and Newspapers, and therefore are easily translated than Kanji. These characters are more rounded than Kanji symbols, and with some of the tattoo enthusiasts these rounded shapes are more appealing as tattoos. Hiragana tattoos are especially attractive for its cursive form of writing, and sometimes it is referred to as 'cursive tattoos'.
|
|
|
| |
Katakana:
The style of Katakana writing is similar to that of Hiragana, and together they are known as 'Kana'. The style was originally based on Kanji, which existed thousands of years back. Since that time, the Kanji character sets have undergone changes and developed into 46 symbols each to form Hiragana and Katakana. The character set in Katakana has unique sharp edges and are angular in appearance, and that what differentiates this with Hiragana.
|
|
|
|
|
