Tattoos rare sight at Tokyo festival

Tokyo's Asakusa district comes out for a large, three-day Shinto festival every year. Sanja Matsuri honours three local spirits. The two brothers and a village headman from Asakusa established its Senso-ji Buddhist temple, which is Tokyo's oldest.

Traditional music, dancing and parades all form part of this religious festival, as well as 'mikoshi'. These portable copies of their Asakusa shrine transport these gods around the neighbourhood. Locals shake the mikoshi to spread good luck outside homes and businesses.

Japanese body art, which people normally keep covered by clothing, also makes a rare appearance. Except at Sanja Matsuri, it's generally unacceptable to have 'irezumi' on display due to their links with 'yakuza' organised crime.

The decorative designs that covered gang members' bodies used to be a key part of yakuza culture. Both painful and costly, irezumi showed the person's strength and wealth. However, Japanese tattoos have had many other uses and meanings.

Ink marks were tattooed onto criminals in the Edo period, from 1603 to 1868, and workers often expressed themselves through irezumi. It was common to see firemen, labourers and craftsmen in working-class areas like Asakusa with tattoos that related to their trades or protected them from danger.

After 1868, tattoos were banned for over 70 years. Covering up's still required by gyms and 'onsen' hot springs. It's a regular habit for Masaki Oyama.

Masaki Oyama: "I try not to show them while I'm at work to avoid any trouble for my company. So I make sure they don't show. Even on my days off, I wear long sleeves. It's not like I'm consciously trying to hide anything in particular, but I've been doing it for so long. That's just how it is."

Among the younger generation, the negative opinions about tattoos are softening. More businesses are advertising themselves as tattoo-friendly, and more events are welcoming people without making them cover their irezumi. View Less