Large scale Japanese Body Suit- The Story of Watanabe no Tsuna and Ibaraki the witch

This tattoo has been an amazing journey from start to finish, and getting the opportunity to complete work like this is really what makes tattooing an amazing job to do. The commitment on the part of the client to achieve a tattoo on this scale never ceases to amaze and impress me, and the trust they give is extremely humbling.

This is Colins first tattoo. He knew he wanted a bodysuit, and one depicting a story of a warrior or legend, but didn’t have a solid idea of what he wanted. We went through a ton of old edo prints, woodblocks, and floating world art and stories but in the end I just lent him a bunch of my books, and asked him to go away and figure out what he wanted without pressure.

He came back with a solid idea, and had also brought me some extra books that he had used in his research process. He had settled on the warrior Watanabe No Tsuna, who is depicted a lot in old Japanese prints and storytelling, and in this case is fighting an Oni demon called Ibaraki. The fight takes place at The Rashomon Gate, which ibaraki haunts. This gate is depicted in the tattoo by a large red beam, which is a pillar of the gate where Ibaraki lurks. This use of a large red pillar is inspired by a Yoshitoshi painting. In the tattoo you can see Watanabe cutting off Ibarakis arm, because in the story, Ibaraki is notorious for abducting human princesses. In a bid to safeguard these princesses, the samurai warrior Watanabe no Tsuna confronted Ibaraki, severing the demon's arm with his sword. However, later, after the battle, Ibaraki employed his magic to transform into Watanabe's Aunt Mashiba. Deceived, Watanabe unwittingly welcomed Ibaraki into his home, allowing the demon to reclaim his arm and escape into the skies, never to be seen again.

Such a cool myth to try to turn in to a dynamic tattoo. In the end this took us around 17 sessions, some longer ones and some half days. The process, was done quickly on Colin’s part, he came often and consistently, but it still took us around a year to complete. For me this process was a joy from start to finish as Colin was such a strong sitter, he never moved or complained, and the imagery and detail was so much fun to work with. Having a relaxed, mentally strong client makes our job so much easier, so i’m super grateful to him. Hopefully we can start the arms and front soon!