Japanese art and meaning.

Graceful.  Elegant.  Beautiful.  In modern Japan, butterfly tattoos are popular with woman.  They're seen as feminine, and have longstanding associations with happiness . In the past, however, macho warriors would wear butterfly designs into battle;  they even became a popular samurai-clan crest.  This could be because the insect's grace was a direct contrast to the blood on the battlefield, but also because the butterfly was associated with longevity and the souls of both the living and the dead . Butterflies make an ideal one-point tattoo, or they can be incorporated into a larger design.