Talented japanese tattooer Horimitsu, follows a unique way in the Tokyo tattoo scene, between traditional fundamentals and contemporary influences.
You studied initially with one of the biggest living irezumi master – Horitoshi I-, how did you develop your own « colour » ?
At a cetain point, naturally and in an unconscious way, the trait becomes a little bit different. In my work, I follow the principles of the shu-ha-ri, expressed by the three ideograms : shu, that means « to keep », ha « break » and ri « to leave ». Said differently, it is a matter of « preserving the tradition », and then to « beak the rules » to, in the end, « transcend onself as a craftman ».
Concretely, what happens ?
I learnt the basics with Horitoshi I, my master, from which I keep an heritage and the structures of his style : powerful, deep, with fine lines for the gaku (the background) and strong touches of white. Then, my « colour » comes in naturally, it is represented as the ha. I follow today my studies in order to get higher than the master, to be taller than him and then create something that nobody has ever seen. This is the ri. Nonetheless, when I’ll leave, I want to leave the trait of Horitoshi in my tattoos, I want to know that my work comes from this family.
What are your inspirations ?
I’m interested in anything. I can be stimulated by films, paintings, cartoons, etc. I try also to ask myself how Hokusaï would have drawn the things I see if he could have seen it too. I can read old stories, like the Suikoden, or taken from the Kabuki theater, but without illustration in order to create my own images. In the same manner as the Japanese artists did for the creation of prints.
How about the pop culture ?
I laways loved the japanese prints but there is in the anime culture an excellent technique, a good combination of colours, a work on the light and the angles that I’m really interested in. To that, you have to ad a much more important palette of ink. For my compositions, I want to mix old themese and a modern technique, in order to create something unique : my style. These are my researches, which should take into account some parameters. I have the possibility to draw freely and at the same time I can’t draw anything. There are some rules in me, rules that I have learnt during my apprenticeship, indescribable. For example, if I draw a very realistic tiger, it’s not relevant with the gaku. It’s not good.
You were initially working with the machine, before learning the tebori technique. Is it something you mix always now ?
Yes, it’s 50/50. All depend on the customers’ requests. The colours are almost always with tebori, the background is done by machine. Sometimes my cistomers ask me to do everything in tebori, something that I do too.
Japanese tattooing is actually very popular outside Japan but is the new japanese generation interested in the japanese traditional culture ?
Yes, the new generation studies the prints. They are referring to it and in that way, there is a transmission of tradition. But these new tattooers copy directly the japanese prints on bodies, in a perfect way, and without even knowing how to draw sometimes. Which, for us, the older generation, is not really an authentic way of doing things.
Why ?
Beyond the technical advantages of being able to adapt the drawing to the customer’s body, the artistic side of it is being lost somehow. When the master draws directly on skin with a pencil, the face and the shape are in a very natural way, slightly different than the original print. That allows to the character of the tattooer to get inside the drawing. In all manual and craftman work, there is always a « taste ». This is something important to keep. - Contact : Honey Tattoo- Nishiyama BLDG.#102 1-16-36, Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. 03-3986-6671 Instagram : http://instagram.com/horimitsu
