Beauty and Violence — HORICHIYO: Ambassador of the Japanese Tattoo

Beauty and Violence — HORICHIYO: Ambassador of the Japanese Tattoo is a rare publication dedicated to the work of Hori Chiyo (彫千代), one of the remarkable tattoo masters associated with Yokohama during Japan’s Meiji period.

At a time when tattooing had officially been prohibited in Japan, the newly opened port cities brought Japanese tattooers into contact with sailors, travellers and other foreign visitors. Yokohama in particular became an important point of exchange between Japanese tattoo culture and the West. Hori Chiyo belonged to this early generation of tattooers whose work became known beyond Japan.

The book presents a collection of Horichiyo’s surviving artwork and designs, including birds, butterflies, snakes, dragons and other motifs. Rather than being a modern tattoo reference book, it offers a rare look at the drawing language of a Japanese tattoo master working around the turn of the twentieth century.

Horichiyo is particularly interesting within tattoo history because he worked during the period in which Western visitors actively sought out Japanese tattooers. This encounter helped introduce the aesthetics and craftsmanship of Japanese tattooing to an international audience. His surviving drawings therefore document not only an individual artist, but an important period in the transmission of Japanese tattoo culture beyond Japan.

For tattoo artists, collectors and researchers of traditional Japanese tattooing, Beauty and Violence is an unusual reference work and an increasingly difficult title to find.

Specifications

• Title: Beauty and Violence — HORICHIYO: Ambassador of the Japanese Tattoo
• Artist: Horichiyo / Hori Chiyo (彫千代)
• Publication year: 2008
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 99
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979868238
• ISBN-13: 9780979868238
• Height: approx. 28.7 cm
• Subject: Japanese tattooing / Irezumi / Horimono / Tattoo history
• Illustrated: Yes, featuring historical artwork and tattoo designs by Horichiyo

A little about Horichiyo

Hori Chiyo (彫千代) was active during the Meiji era and is closely associated with Yokohama, one of the principal gateways through which Western visitors encountered Japanese tattooing in the late nineteenth century. Sources surrounding his life are comparatively scarce—which is precisely what makes surviving material connected with him so valuable.

His historical importance lies partly in this international setting. Japanese tattooing was officially suppressed during the Meiji period, while foreign travellers continued to seek out Japanese tattoo masters. Artists working in port cities such as Yokohama consequently became an early bridge between the Japanese tattoo tradition and the emerging Western tattoo world. Horichiyo is one of the names associated with that exchange.