Tattoos rare sight at Tokyo festival

Tokyo's Asakusa district holds an annual Shinto festival in honour of three sacred spirits. The three-day Sanja Matsuri centres on two brothers and the village headman who founded Asakusa's Senso-ji temple, the city's oldest Buddhist temple.

Alongside music, dancing and parades, local residents carry these gods around in 'mikoshi' to bless the neighbourhood. Shaking these portable shrines outside homes and businesses is said to entertain them and bring good fortune.

Sanja Matsuri's also a rare opportunity for people to openly display traditional Japanese tattoos, known as 'irezumi'. Irezumi have a rich heritage in Japanese culture, including negative associations with 'yakuza' organized crime gangs.

In yakuza culture, elaborate, full-body tattoos demonstrated an individual's strength, wealth, loyalty and ability to tolerate pain. However, irezumi history stretches back much further.

During the Edo period, from 1603 to 1868, it was common practice to mark criminals with tattoos. However, firemen, labourers, craftsmen and even merchants of the time also adorned their bodies with irezumi, both as a form of self-expression and a spiritual protection from danger.

Following this, tattoos were banned for over 70 years and they're still prohibited in 'onsen' hot springs, gyms and many pools.

Asakusa's working-class history, and the festival's community focus, help explain why these tattoos are so openly displayed during Sanja Matsuri. People welcome the opportunity to be themselves and connect with their roots, like festivalgoer 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."

As the current generation rediscovers tattoos as a means of self-expression, attitudes towards irezumi are evolving. A growing number of tattoo-friendly establishments and gatherings are celebrating both modern western, and traditional 'wabori' tattoo crafts. View Less