Traditional Japanese style tattoos of a cat on the ribs and a dog-like figure among red maple leaves on the shoulder and upper arm, shown in colour.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Japanese cat and maple sleeve on torso

Japanese · Shoulder · Mixed · Photo

A woman's torso and left arm are covered in Japanese style tattoos. On the side of the ribs a striped cat crouches among red and orange maple leaves, and a full sleeve on the upper arm shows a snarling dog-like creature with grey clouds and more maple leaves. The bold outlines, solid colour fills and grey shading give a dense, layered composition across the skin.

Japanese Shoulder Upper arm Ribs Cat Dog Maple leaves Cloud

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Now sit still, the lot of you, and mind the teapot, because this is the one about Tora and the big yellow dog from the fish quay," said Mrs Pryce, settling into the armchair by the boarding house range. "Every October the maples went red up Scarrow Head, and every October that dog came up the cliff path with his ears flat and his teeth showing, because he thought the cliff was his. Nobody had told him otherwise. The gulls had stopped telling him anything.

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Tora lived in the chandler's yard at the top of the steps. She was striped like a tiger's fur that had been left out in the rain, and she was not frightened of anything with a bark. She sat on the wall and watched him come up the path, one paw tucked under her chest, and when he was close enough to lunge she simply stood, arched her back, and took the sausage off the top of his supper basket with one neat swipe.

She paused for a sip of tea and let the fog drift in at the window. The dog howled so the whole street heard him. But he did not chase her, not that day. Tora had slipped up into the red leaves, and when he followed he found three kittens curled in the moss under the roots, too small to open their eyes. The dog stopped dead. Then he lay down across the hole with his great head on his paws, and he stayed there all night while the cloud came down white over the sea.

Mrs Pryce set her cup on its saucer with a small click. "Come morning, the chandler's wife found him still lying there, the sausage gone, and nobody has ever once seen that dog bark at a cat since. Drink up now. The fog's lifting, and you lot have a tide to catch."