Colour Japanese koi fish tattoo with white wave swirls and a white lotus bloom, wrapping the shoulder and upper arm.

Koi fish and lotus on upper arm

Japanese · Shoulder · Mixed · Photo

An orange koi fish swims up the arm, with white stylised waves at the top of the shoulder and a white lotus bloom near the shoulder edge. Bold black outlines define the scales and fins, and the orange and gold tones are softly shaded, while the dark grey water behind the fish is smoothly blended. The design wraps around the shoulder and upper arm, with the fish's head angled towards the elbow.

Japanese Shoulder Upper arm Koi Fish Lotus Wave Water

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

You have been told since childhood that the carp at the weir of Qiu Ling will become a dragon if it climbs the falls, and you have laughed at this with the other boys who sell reeds at the landing. But the orange one with the cracked gold scale above its eye has been trying for three summers, and today, with the river swollen brown from the hills, you sit on the upturned hull of your uncle's boat and watch it go at the water again.

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Your uncle Han, who mends nets and tells lies with a straight face, says the carp is only stubborn. He says the lotus that grows under the willow is the fish's sister, given to the river by a princess who wanted her luck sent downstream. You do not believe him. You do believe the water, which pulls white at the lip of the weir like a horse refusing a bridle, and you believe the fish, which throws itself at the stone until the stone shows bare.

On the fourth morning of the rains you go down alone with a basket of cold rice. The fish is not in the pool. In its place a lotus has opened on the still water below the falls, white as a folded letter, and when you crouch to touch it the petals are wet and warm, as if something has only just passed beneath them. You tell no one. When Han asks, you shrug, and he nods as though he has known all along.

Some summers later you climb the weir yourself, barefoot on the slick stone, and at the top the spray hits your face like a slap of cold gold. You look down. The pool is only a pool, and the reeds are only reeds. But the current, for once, does not pull you back.