Colour tattoo of a Japanese katana with a black and grey patterned handle, gold guard and red scabbard wrap, surrounded by swirling clouds, on the forearm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Katana tattoo with clouds on a forearm

Japanese · Forearm · Mixed · Photo

A katana sword runs diagonally up the forearm, with the handle wrapped in grey braiding marked with orange diamond shapes and a gold guard. The lower section shows a dark grey scabbard bound with a red cord, with stylised clouds drawn around the blade and hilt. Bold outlines, smooth shading and a neutral blue backdrop keep the sword as the clear focus.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Nobody at the reunion could agree on which year the sword had first turned up at the school, only that Hana Oduya had carried it in wrapped in a tea towel and set it on the raffle table between the Victoria sponge and a tin of Quality Street. The hall smelled of floor polish and instant coffee. Somebody's husband wanted to know if it was real.

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The old story, Hana's mother told her, came from a valley where a smith made blades that would not come out of their scabbards for anyone who meant harm. Steam from the quenching trough rose in curls, and the smith's wife bound each grip in grey braid, marking the diamonds in orange so the hand would know where to rest. A blade like that cut only what was owed. A man who tried to draw it for spite found the scabbard tied fast with its red cord, and he went home with nothing but a sore wrist.

Gary Pill, who had once put a cricket ball through the science lab window and blamed Hana for it, came over with two plastic cups of squash. He reached for the hilt and stopped, his hand hovering above the gold guard. He said he was sorry. It was the first time anyone had heard him say it without a smirk.

Hana did not draw the blade. She picked up the cord, looped it twice round the scabbard and pulled it tight. "You can have it when you mean it," she said, and went back to cutting the sponge.

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