I am quite proud to present this recent selection of works by my master, Horiyoshi III. I am also glad to bring some much needed advice directly from the source, translated for Tattoo Artist Magazine. My master was born Yoshihito Nakano on March 9th, 1946. Like many tattooers, he had an early interest in the tattoo arts and his first forays into it were experimental in nature, crudely executed on his own body. At the age of twenty one, he met the man who would become his master, Yoshitsugu Muramatsu, Horiyoshi of Yokohama. (Note: not to be confused with Horiyoshi I and II of Tokyo–the Kuronuma family) Like many apprenticeships all over the world, the apprentice often begins as a client. In this case, the client would prove his devotion by obtaining and enduring a full long sleeve body suit, tattooed entirely by hand. In 1971, Horiyoshi retired and named two apprentices to continue his lineage. He passed the title "Horiyoshi II" to his own son and the title "Horiyoshi III" to Yoshihito Nakano, his star pupil.Horiyoshi III describes his master as a man with the truest passion for tattooing and has worked diligently to honor this ethic. In the mid-eighties Horiyoshi III came in contact with Don Ed Hardy, a union that would change his life in many ways and start a lifelong artistic and spiritual friendship. This was also the point when he began using electric machines, a process he would use in conjunction with the traditional hand needles to create a new world of Japanese tattoo art. Machine outlines have allowed Horiyoshi III to realize his own expanded repertoire of designs and with the utmost respect to past masters of the woodblock print world, he is creating a new pool of tattoo art. To this end he has published three collections of tattoo art, 100 Demons, 108 Heroes of the Suikoden and The Namakubi. He has also opened a tattoo museum with his wife in an effort to further educate the Japanese public about the global history and artistic merit of the tattoo. Even now, with over thirty years of tattooing, Horiyoshi III tattoos six days a week and plans to do so until his hands give out.
The following text is based on a recent interview with my master, Horiyoshi III, as well as compiled information and conversations over the last six years of my study with him. The first point that I would like to make clear is that what follows is the viewpoints of the Horiyoshi III teachings. Much like the Kabuki theatre, there are many operating families in Japan, all of which have their own traditions and interpretations of Japanese tattoo culture. We are simply offering our sensibilities to the tattoo world at Crash’s request. We are quite happy that Crash believes that there is interest in the tattoo world in our view of traditional tattooing. We sincerely hope that this article is helpful and would like to remind tattooers to keep themselves "open" to new ideas and a wholehearted, broad study of tradition. To be quite frank, generally when someone is adamant about "the only traditional" way to do things, they are usually trying to sell you something. This happens with American tattooing as well.
