Archive for 'Kanji Tattoos'

Popular Kanji for Tattoos

June 27, 2008 by , under Kanji Tattoos.

Kanji tattoos are intricate yet the character strokes look beautiful and fascinating. Their aesthetic values made them a preferred design by both men and women. They are especially common with those people who are of Japanese descent to show that they are proud of their heritage. However, their popularity among the Westerners cannot be denied. They can usually be found tattooed on arms, back, legs, wrist and ribs. Another notable characteristic of kanji tattoos is the fact that they are used to accentuate other symbols that are also of Japanese origin. Cherry blossoms or sakura and geisha are other tattoo images that are usually blend with kanji characters, perhaps to emphasize genuineness.
Check out this link if you are specifically looking for an accurate Kanji or Japanese translation of your tattoo.

100% Accurate Japanese </p> <p><img style=Koi is another popular symbol that are usually rendered on ink with kanji characters. It is a fish well-known and celebrated in Japan believed to stand for a lot of things like masculinity, aspirations or friendship.

Kanji is a complex and difficult form of writing system used in Japan. It was adapted from Chinese characters more than 1,500 years ago when the Japanese had no writing system. Since Japanese is very different from Chinese, additional sets of symbols called kana were developed, each standing for a syllable rather than a separate consonant or vowel. These two kana are called hiragana and katakana which are phonetic symbols and represent pronunciation. Hiragana is used for expressing Japanese words while katakana is used for foreign words and names.


Kanji photos by Jaimie Ramsay

Kanji, on the other hand, does not represent an alphabet, but instead, they are complicated forms that suggest objects or actions. This made kanji tattoos very popular since they have an aura of mystery; the meanings or message behind them can be communicated without being blatant. Kanji tattoos can create a strong statement without being overdone since the characters are small and self-contained pictorial images that are bound within an imaginary square. A single character can stand for a symbolical meaning of its own. Moreover, they look like Egyptian hieroglyphics making them more interesting and unique.

Before deciding on a design for kanji tattoos, make sure that you go for an artist who actually understand or knows the symbol. Or if you are going to copy the kanji character from somewhere else, make sure that they are very reliable sources. A lot of people end up having kanji tattoos only to realize in the end that they were inked with an entirely different meaning than they would like to convey.


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