Japanese tattoo ideas

839 photos and flash · Upper arm most common

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Full back tattoo in a Japanese style showing a large red and brown owl beside cherry blossom branches and a pale moon, with a green bird sleeve on the upper arm.
Owl, cherry blossom and moon back piece
Colour tattoo on a lower leg showing a maneki-neko cat with a raised paw, a skull-patterned moth and red petals, in a traditional style.
Maneki-neko cat and skull moth on a calf
Full back tattoo in Japanese style showing a geisha in an orange kimono beside pink lotus flowers and green lily pads, with arm sleeves visible.
Full back piece with geisha and lotus flowers
Black linework flash of an Eastern-style dragon coiling through clouds, a design suited to a Japanese style back or sleeve tattoo.
Eastern dragon with clouds
Back view of a shaved-headed man with a realistic red-mouthed snake tattoo across his back, with colourful floral and grey Japanese-style sleeves on both arms.
Realistic snake across a full back tattoo
A sheet of blue line and solid wave designs in a Japanese-influenced style, arranged in rows on a white background.
Sheet of blue wave designs
Navy engraved-style drawing of a curling wave with foam and a dark speckled circle on a beige background, a flash design with no body placement shown.
Curling wave with splatter circle
Pastel-coloured Japanese-style dragon design winding around peony blossoms and leaves on a cream background, drawn as a flash piece.
Pastel dragon and peonies design
Black and grey Japanese style tattoo of a skull, koi fish and peony flowers with waves across the upper arm.
Skull, koi and peony on the upper arm
Neo-traditional tattoo of a black cat with green eyes and a tongue out, surrounded by pink cherry blossoms, on the outer thigh.
Black cat with cherry blossoms on a thigh
Black and grey snarling tiger with pink blossoms and green leaves in a Japanese style, covering a forearm.
Tiger and blossom on a forearm
Colour Japanese style tattoo of a maneki-neko lucky cat with a red sunburst, cherry blossoms and lotus on the thigh.
Maneki-neko cat on a thigh
Close-up of a Japanese style tattoo on a back and upper arm, showing a red and yellow serpent with a dark scaled head and orange eye among black and grey waves.
Japanese serpent and waves across back and arm
Back of a person in a white bikini bottom showing a large Japanese style peacock and orange chrysanthemum tattoo across the lower back.
Peacock and chrysanthemum on lower back
Black and grey Japanese-style tattoo of a roaring tiger with clouds and flowers across a person's chest and shoulder.
Roaring tiger tattoo on chest and shoulder
Coloured Japanese-style flash design of a roaring tiger among bamboo and swirling clouds, with a small frog holding a leaf in the lower right corner.
Tiger and bamboo flash with frog in rain
Colour tattoo of a maneki-neko lucky cat with pink blossoms on the upper arm, in a traditional Japanese style.
Maneki-neko lucky cat on upper arm
Black line tattoo of a curling wave with spray dots on the inner forearm, in a fine line style with Japanese-inspired detail.
Curling wave on a forearm
Realistic grey and pink tattoo of a geisha in a kimono with cherry blossom branches, covering the upper back.
Geisha portrait with cherry blossom on a back
Black and grey Japanese style tattoo of a koi fish on the upper arm and a dragon with flowers and waves across the shoulder and chest.
Black and grey koi and dragon shoulder piece
Black ink design of a swallow in flight, with its wings and body filled with Japanese-style waves, flowers and a koi-like fish, drawn on a white background.
Swallow in flight with wave and koi patterns
Japanese style colour design of a red oni with thunder drums, blue dragons and swirling clouds, shown as a full drawing with no body placement.
Red oni with dragons and thunder clouds
Colour tattoo of blue, purple, red and pink peonies with green leaves running down a person's back, placed on the back.
Peony sequence across a back
Colour tattoo of pink cherry blossom branches and a purple butterfly running from the ribs across the side of the abdomen, in a Japanese style.
Cherry blossom branch and butterfly on ribs and hip
Black and white photo of a shirtless man kneeling on a bed with his back to the camera, showing a large tiger tattoo across his back and a tattooed upper arm.
Tiger tattoo across a man's back and arm
Black and grey pen drawing of a coiled Japanese-style dragon with a open mouth, horns, whiskers and claws, shown as a tattoo design with no body placement visible.
Coiled Japanese-style dragon design
Colour Japanese-style phoenix tattoo with clouds and foliage covering a man's shoulder and upper arm, shown in two side-by-side photos.
Phoenix tattoo across shoulder and upper arm
Colour tattoo of a golden koi fish swimming among pink flowers and teal water plants on an upper arm, in a Japanese-influenced neo-traditional style.
Koi fish and flowers on an upper arm
Two people shown from behind with full body Japanese-style tattoos, the left in black and grey with a dragon and bird, the right in colour with a warrior figure and peonies.
Full body Japanese tattoos seen from behind
Woman in a striped top and blue underwear lifts her shirt, showing a black and grey Japanese-style dragon tattoo on her side and thigh and a rose tattoo on her hand.
Dragon on hip and thigh with rose on hand
Back tattoo of a seated samurai holding two swords within a black ink ensō circle and a red brushstroke, in a watercolour-style trash polka style across the upper back.
Seated samurai with enso circle on a back
Blue wave tattoo with a curling crest and spray, shaded in a painterly style across the forearm.
Blue wave tattoo on a forearm
Back view of a man with a red and black Japanese-style dragon on his left shoulder and upper back, and a black spine tattoo running down the centre.
Red dragon and black spine across a back
Full back tattoo of a snake coiled around a skull with waves and clouds, in grey shading with small orange accents, placed across the back.
Snake and skull full back piece
Colour Japanese-style chrysanthemum tattoo with orange petals, red accents and dark green leaves, outlined in black on the forearm.
Orange chrysanthemum on a forearm
Two tattooed people in a Japanese style: a woman with a grey oni mask on her stomach and a man with a full colour sleeve and an oni mask on his chest.
Two people with Japanese style tattoo sleeves and torsos
Painted Japanese style design of a green snake coiling around pink and yellow lotus flowers over dark swirling clouds, shown on a flat back torso cutout.
Snake and lotus back design on a painted torso
Colour Japanese style tattoo of a black and white cat with red lightning, a red and white mountain and light blue clouds on the leg.
Cat with lightning and mountain on a leg
Full back tattoo of a red and gold phoenix with flowing feathers and peacock eye details, in Japanese style, covering the back.
Full back phoenix tattoo in red and gold
Colour tattoo of a large pink chrysanthemum with green leaves and grey shading on the upper arm, in a Japanese style.
Pink chrysanthemum with leaves on upper arm
Black line tattoo of a lotus flower with waves and clouds in a Japanese style across a person's stomach above white underwear.
Lotus and waves across the abdomen
Black and grey dragon tattoo running down the back of a person with a raised arm, in Japanese style, with a branch-like tattoo on the upper arm.
Black and grey dragon across a back
Black and grey Japanese-style wave tattoo covering a forearm, with a cloud motif near the elbow and solid black bands near the wrist.
Japanese waves and clouds on a forearm
Pink cherry blossom branch tattoo with black shaded limbs wrapping around an upper arm, in a Japanese-inspired style.
Cherry blossom branch on upper arm
Colour tattoo of a kokeshi-style doll in a blue kimono with cherry blossom branches and a banner reading FOR YOU ANYTHING, on a person's upper back.
Kokeshi doll and cherry blossom on a shoulder blade
Black and grey koi fish drawing in a Japanese style with orange fins and a red gill patch, beside the heading The Meaning Behind Koi Fish Tattoos.
Koi fish tattoo design with heading text
Blue and turquoise wave tattoo inside a black outlined circle, centred on a person's back.
Blue wave in a circle on the back
Colour Japanese style tattoo of an orange koi fish with a pink lotus, pink cherry blossoms and blue waves across the upper back.
Orange koi with lotus and cherry blossom on a back