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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.



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