Peonies & Cherry Blossoms

Each spring, the cherry blossoms return, brilliant and beautiful as ever. Given their associations with rebirth and life's fragility, it's no accident that Japanese Buddhists embraced cherry blossoms; temples often planted sakura on their grounds. The religion itself makes much use of flower imagery, including the peony, called obtain in Japanese. The hosoge, an imaginary Buddhist flower, is even modeled after the peony. Its imagery is also found in designs at Shinto shrines.

In China, as in Japan, the peony is called the King of Flowers, with connotations of nobility, honor and beauty. Legend states that more than a thousand years ago, a Chinese empress known by an unfortunate name that translates as "Horse-Faced Lady" prayed to an enormous statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, located in faraway Japan at a Buddhist temple in Nara called Hasedera. Horse Face's wish was granted, and she became a ravishing beauty. The now-stunning lady send peony trees to the temple, cementing the peony's image as one good-looking trope. Today, Hasedera is famous for its peonies and sakura, and is known as the Temple of Flowers.

Falcons & Hawks

Note that the Japanese language uses the same word (taka) for both falcons and hawks. The visual difference is that falcons have a notched beak, while hawks do not. Taka are strong, with a piercing gaze. This explains why the bird has long been a symbol of the samurai , and the bird of prey is a common design on men's kimono. In irezumi, the bird of prey is paired with snakes, with the taka either swooping down to seize the snake in its beak, or with the reptile wrapped around its body. It's a depiction of killing or being killed. Thematically, the motifs is much deeper. The taka represents power, and the snake is longevity . The bird is also auspicious . Dreaming of a taka, Mount Fuji, and an eggplant on the first day of a new year is considered lucky. In the dream, the taka represents strength, power, and the ability to fly high .

Wind & Water

Tattoo motifs of wind and water; like those of bamboo and pine, are trans-seasonal. They are often employed as unifying elements across the background of a tattoo. Connecting different tattoo elements with an overarching design is a defining element of Japanese tattoos; this is an important difference compared to Western tattoos, which traditionally are isolated images on the skin. Wind and water motifs make that connection.

The Octopus

In modern times, octopus imagery has strong sexual connotations thanks to the ridiculously suggestive use of tentacles in manga, anime, and video games. The motif is not new, however; one of Japan's most famous and respected artists, Hokusai, pioneered it back in 1814 with the woodblock print The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife , which featured a woman getting hot and heavy with an enormous cephalopod. While such erotically charged associations have become infamous in the West, this underwater invertebrate means more than tentacle porn in Japan. Often shown as either cute or comical, the octopus was also the personal physician for Ryujin, the underwater sea dragon, which might explain why, in the past, Japanese doctors were fond of carrying octopus amulets. And in tattoos, the octopus's ink can make for a clever visual pun.

Japanese art and meaning.

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