Man with a full chest and sleeve Japanese style tattoo of peonies, koi, a lion and clouds on a dark background.

Full torso and sleeve Japanese tattoo with peonies and koi

Japanese · Chest · Mixed · Photo

A man stands front on against a black background, with a large Japanese style tattoo covering his chest, stomach and both arms. Peonies in pink, red and orange sit among green leaves, with a koi fish and a lion-like guardian figure set against grey clouds and wind bars. The black and grey shading gives depth to the clouds and the ribcage-like bands, while the peonies and fish are filled with bright colour.

Japanese Chest Upper arm Forearm Peony Koi Lion Cloud Leaves Fish Man Torso Sleeve

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Mei,

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The rain came in off the harbour before dawn, and by seven the flower sellers under the tin awnings had given up pretending the peonies would last. Old Hideo sold me the last twelve for the price of ten, because they were bruised at the edges and he said nobody else would take them home. I carried them in a bucket wrapped in newspaper, and the water ran down my sleeves as if it had somewhere better to be.

At the far end of the lane, past the fishmonger who keeps his carp in a tank the size of a bath, there is a carver called Yoshi who makes lion masks for the autumn festival. Everything he owns is grey with damp except his paint pots, which he keeps lidded like jam. He had a shishi head on his bench, gold leaf flaking from the mane, and he was painting its eyes while the rain drummed on the roof. He told me the lion is not there to frighten anyone. It stands at the gate so the house behind can sleep.

I asked him whether he had ever carved a fish. He laughed and pointed at the tank. Those fish, he said, swim against the falls until one day the water turns to gold beneath them. Then he dipped a fine brush and painted a single red scale onto the lion's cheek, the way you would sign a letter, and said that was the only proper way to finish a guardian.

I have put the peonies in the blue jug on the sill. They are opening already, heavy and loose, and the room smells of wet paper and something sweeter. I will bring you a lion mask at Christmas, if Yoshi finishes it in time, and if the rain stops long enough for me to see the road.

Your loving sister, Aiko