The eighth painting in eight weeks. Another acrylic that was supposed to be an easy fun piece while oil canvases are drying, that I struggled and fought with more than it should. To people who are not into tattooing, this is Yoshihito Nakano, known to the tattoo community at large as Horiyoshi 3. As the name implies honorable sensei apprenticed under the first Horiyoshi, Yoshitsugu Muramatsu, a horishi who was tattooing, illegally, since WW1. In that, they are a direct link to the ancient practices of Nihon Irezumi that date back thousands of years. Our generation of tattoo apprentices cut our teeth on his artwork, if you’re learning how to create Japanese dragons, koi, yokai, oni, flowers, finger waves, or contracting a full horimono body suit, you’re studying Horiyoshi 3. He is our Elvis. Veteran inkslingers from across the globe make the pilgrimage to Yokohama, Japan’s Chinatown, to get tattooed in the studio in an apartment district, that was hidden while tattooing was still illegal in Tokyo.
I made that journey in 2102, for my forty-fourth birthday, a thing I’d fantasized about for thirteen years. His studio is a miniature museum, every inch is covered with pieces of tattoo history, and sitting on a tatami matt and getting to wear one of his pieces was a mindblowng experience. I was charmed by his approachability and humility, as well as his skillset; he tattooed three of us with ninja fast speeds, not using stencils and going straight in, committing picture perfect lifework like a machine. He smoked, joked, and picked up the phone mid-tattoo, answering “Moshi moshi!” He also signed our books, creating full renderings of smoke dragons or Daruma heads; I have video of those signings, he renders a full page with brush markers in two minutes. Incredible!
We also got to meet his wife, Mayumi, who manages the museum they built on the main avenue, filled with all the omiyage every tattoo legend brought to him over the decades. She was taken when we brought her omiyage, as everyone showers attention on the maestro, and she was moved to be included, inviting us to cover the windows outside with our stickers. Seppuku is a rude word in Japanese; yes, the most honorable way for a samurai to die, but also references evisceration, so I was honored to have the studio represented.
“Horiyoshi 3,” 11” x14”, acrylic on canvas. Domo arigato gozaimashite!
