Noble tattooee and forgotten tattooist Dambala Tell-kaz Duaring the early colonial period of Hong Kong which

was given to the British E mpire, on her dominions the sun never sets, tattooing was in vogue among the arist ocracy and the royal family in Britain. Full-fledged boom began since 1870s, and ended before World War I. By a curious coincidence, it is almost same period of Japanese "Meiji Era (1868 - 1912) . During this period, five British princes cam e to Japan , and at least four of them got a tattoo carved into their skin, whi le staying there. Traditional Japanese tattoo had evolved under isolation, and reached the world' s highest level. Its uniqueness are styles of shading, mythical beasts and orien tal images, and hidden meaning of art. Tattooist created dragon tattoo with carving scales. They colored each of them very carefully. No one could do that except Japanese at that time. With opening the country, Japanese tattoo drew a great deal of attention from E urope. European sailors and seamen often got their carve at the ports they visited as a form of spiritual protection, or just memorial stuff. They tend to get lu cky items, an anchor, pinup girls, and bunch of ethnic designs. Technique and be auty of Japanese hand curving spread over the ocean. The time first professional t attooist appeared in Britain is almost the same time as Japanese curving had int roduced. British had their own tradition of tattooing, but epidemic period was c arried out while Japanese tattoo getting popular. So Japan was recognised as an ad vanced nation of tattooing. Some of Japanese tattooists invited to Europe and Unit ed States. These period of time, there was a legendary tattooist , who called "emperor of tattoo" in the West. His name was Horichiyo, whose studio located in Yokohama. Horichiyo is a man with many mysteries. Despite of Europeans thought him as a r epresent of Japanese tattooist, he was just an unknown person in his country. So quite a few archives are left for proof of his existence. All the documents ab out him are 1) an novel titled Horichiyo written by Arishima Ikuma(his two brother s were famous writers, too) and 2) 27 original pictures that Fujita Tsuguharu reci ved. Fujita is a Japanese expatriate painter in France, who inked himself on his hand. Thanks to these works, We can barely understand outline of his life. Why did he referred to as Emperor, despite of his image is dubious? It is because they said Horichiyo engraved Prince Albert Victor(the Duke of Clarence) and Pr ince George (later King George V) of England. Among European royals and the nobles tattoo has been very popular at the time, s o when they came to Japan in diplomacy, it was not uncommon to get carved on the ir skins. Especially for the royal family in Britain, Engaving was a kind of rul e while staying in Japan. The Legends of Horichiyo in abroad is like below. 1.Horichiyo engraved Prince Albert Victorand the Duke of York (later King George V) of England. 2.He also engraved Russian Prince Nikolai II, Prince George of Greece and Denma rk et cetera. 3. Invited by Max Bandel, a millionaire in New York city at a retainer of 2400 a year, Horichiyo had stayed for some years and tattooed celebritys. The three legends above is originally came from the article Pictures in the Huma n Skin by Gambier Bolton in 1897, which appeared on the Strand Magazine. It was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles. It is famo us by serialized works of Sherlock Holmes. According to Noboru Koyama, who studied relationship between European royal famil ies and Horichiyo, those legends are all wrong unfortunately. British and Russia n Princes got carved in Japan, yes, but it was the work of someone else. Althoug h the invitation from the millionaire in New York can not be ruled out completel y, but Horichiyo did not leave Japan in his lifetime.

Bolton claimed he visited Horichiyos studio around 1893, and tattooed on his ski n. And yet his article was not right. Horichiyo advertised his studio on the travel guidebook of Japan. It seemed to be misunderstood by the Europeans who thought He seems big in Japan. So all of ro yal families engraved tattoos at his studio. He must have been the best tattoo a rtist in Japan. Japanese government prohibited tattoo in 1872, because it is thought barbaric prac tices. But masters still doing their business on. People said the best solution be tween 1877 and 1882 are outlining by Horiiwa, shading by Darumakin, and color by Karakusa-gonta. After that Horiuno who considered the greatest master of all time in Japan worked 1902 - 1920s. But these fabulous masters were not known in overseas at all. The only one got worldwide fame was Horichiyo. Koyama gave us the following reaso ns. 1.Horichiyo could speak English in spite of Japanese at that time. 2.He respond to modern times flexibly. For example dealing with postcards and ph otos. 3.He worked actively for Europeans. Created new designs like calligraphy. 4.Before his works, Japanese tattoo has only three colors. He brought new colors . The most important contribute of him is brought new colors. Japanese tattoo had only three colors(red, brown, and black). He was talented, but his drawing skil l was much liked by Europeans rather than Japanese. Though born during Samurai e ra, he stepped out from traditional carving technique. As previously described, We dont know much about him, but the story like the fol lowing has been revealed. His real name is Tadashi Miyazaki, born in Mizuochi, Shizuoka city, Shizuoka pr efecture in 1859. His family was Samurai and he was second son. at age 19, he disa ppeared from his hometown and came back at 31. He was already tattoo artist. There is no material described why he became a tattoo artist nor any episodes dur ing training except a few. According to Bolton, Horichiyos master was Horiyasu wh o was brother disciple of Horiuno, the best tattoo artist of all time. Horichiyo was said he tattooed his master. He said, studied estern painting at his young a ge on his business card. It seems he trained by himself, studying traditional ca rving and design. It is not clear from when he started his career as a tatoo artist, but seems he filled in a tattoo on foreign people by 26 years old (in 1885) at latest. He got married with Fumi Watanabe, who was a mistress of Horace Frank Arthur, the owner of Arthur & Bond, the fine art gallery. His studio was kept here at first . Arthur and Fumi had a girl named Shizu, Horichiyo started a family with her an d made two more children. He was familiar with western culture. He loved taking pictures, bicycle and managed pool hall. On 17 March 1900, in Hokkaido(northern part of Japan) he committed a double su icide with one prostitute. The details are unknown. (According to the novel by I kuma Arishima, he was killed in battle in Port Arthur(Lshunkou) during the RussoJapanese war.) Horichiyo had a disciple called Horisei(or Horikiyo), he also die d young around 1904. Horiyoshi III, legendary Tattoo Master in Yokohama, says I trace Horichiyos life. I can tell a probable location of his studio. He seems living a rich life because settled in Bluff, a extraterritoriality concession. I guess he had a strong de sire to succeed, a lot of vitality, and clear mind. I cant find out why he killed himself. It was not sudeen sucide. Absolutely not. Accepted opinion is due to p overty. But not in debt. He shot himself and his handgun was something valuable. Though he loved gambling, never tried last big bet. Somehow he abandoned hopes. The techniques of Japanese carving was transmitted to England. This was triggered by Horichiyo and other masters. Tattooing flourished in British society in nine teenth century. Despite of Japanese government prohibited their tattoo tradition , because of its barbarous, advanced European royalty and the aristocracy had a pas

sion for tattoo so strong. What an irony! Edward VII struck a spark. His first tattoo experience was in Jerusalem. Franci s Souwan was the man got him carved. Twenty years later, his two sons, Prince Al bert Victor and George V also got carved of Jerusalem Cross. As I told you, this two princes had been thought of Horichiyos customer. Later David Purdy establish ed first tattoo shop in England around 1870. Many aristocrats came to his place, so Purdy got success. Prominent British tattoo artists of the late 19th century were Sutherland Macdonald, Tom Riley, Alfred South, and George Burchett. These men and far east tattooists stayed at the top until Samuel O'Reilly invented and patented the first electric tattooing machine in 1890. Tattooing technique was revolutionized overnight. When O'Reilly died in 1908, Charles Wagner, an apprent ice of OReilly, took over him. Wagner improved tattooing machine and patented. At the beginning of 20th century, there were tattoo studios in every major America n city. The best time of Japan and England was over. After World War I, the Cent er for tattooing move to United States completely. Today cultural and technical exchange going on. Its getting more active.National ity does not matter any more. The most important thing is skill as an artist. end.