Heavily tattooed forearms crossed over a white t-shirt, with a Japanese-style koi fish and red flowers on one forearm and a traditional skull and crossbones on the upper arm.

Koi fish and skull tattoos on crossed arms

Japanese · Forearm · Mixed · Photo

A man with arms folded across a white t-shirt shows a large koi fish with flowers on his forearm, rendered in grey and black shading with red and orange blossoms. Traditional-style elements include a skull with crossbones on the upper arm, a spiderweb near the elbow, and a banner with lettering. A silver wristwatch sits on the wrist above the fish, and the composition is tightly framed on the arms.

Japanese Traditional Forearm Upper arm Koi Fish Flower Peony Skull Crossbones Spiderweb Banner Lettering Watch

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Win,

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You will not believe what came down to breakfast on Tuesday. Mr Okafor from the back room, who has paid his rent in advance every week since May and never once complained about the damp, reached across the table for the marmalade, and there on his forearm was a carp the size of a loaf, grey and black, its mouth open as if it had been caught mid-sentence. Red blossom sprayed along its back like somebody had thrown petals at it. Mrs Pryce nearly dropped the teapot, and I will not pretend I didn't stare.

You remember Dad's pond behind the kitchen, the one he filled in the winter the frost split the liner? Old Admiral lived under those lily pads for eleven years, and nobody has mentioned him since. Mrs Pryce says the skull and crossbones further up the arm is a sailor's joke, and the spiderweb near the elbow is only for show, but I looked at that fish a long time. It was swimming against the current, the way Admiral used to when we fed him bread crusts he didn't want.

When I asked where he had it done, he said a shop in Portsmouth, on a Sunday, with a man who talked the whole time about the tide. Then he said the old story is that a carp which climbs the falls becomes a dragon, and he laughed, and said he had been climbing for a while now and was not sure he had got there. He paid his tea money in coins that smelled of the harbour and went back upstairs.

So I have asked Tom to dig out the old pond. The liner is ruined, but the stone rim is still sound. Tell Mother the lilies are coming back, and when you come at Whitsun, bring bread crusts. I think there may be room for one more fish.

Love, June