Sometimes it becomes really difficult for a tattoo enthusiast to locate a unique tattoo piece. In such scenario Japanese tattoo symbols can serve the purpose right. There are different types of Japanese styles that can be incorporated in a tattoo pattern to create a distinct tattoo pattern.
Japanese are known to be highly talented and creative people who have fathered several breakthroughs. One of the fields where their craftsmanship and creativity has gained them popularity is the art of tattooing. There are several Japanese tattoo symbols that are being highly preferred by tattoo enthusiasts all across the world.
The subtle beauty and distinct visual appeal of Japanese tattoo symbols are making the symbols highly popular. These symbols are inspired from Japanese art and culture and hence they need to be properly researched prior getting inked. Since a tattoo is a thing that will remain with you for a long time, so always prefer making all possible efforts to get the right one inked by the right artist.
There are different Japanese symbols from which tattoo patterns are derived. Most of the Japanese tattoos have heavily written symbols that can be classified into following three main categories.
Kanji Symbols
Kanji is one of the most popularly used Japanese tattoo symbols. Its subtle beauty lies in its artistic and expressive patterns. It is believed that there are more than 40,000 kanji symbols and each of them represents a different meaning.
Availability of larger number of symbols allows the tattoo enthusiasts to experiment with different symbols or even opt for combination of number of different kanji symbols to create a trendy and unique tattoo design, expressing wide variety of ideas and messages.
Hiragana Symbols
Some of the Japanese tattoo symbols are also derived from Hiragana which is a type of Japanese writing style. Unlike kanji that often appear to be abstract symbols, hiragana is widely used in Japan for writing purposes including in print media and is easily open to literal translation.
Often consisting of rounded and cursive letters, hiragana when used in tattoo work makes the art piece classy. In fact, sometimes a hiragana style of tattoo is also referred to as cursive tattoo.
Katakana Symbols
The third type of Japanese symbol is the katakana symbol that is similar to Hiragana. Originally based on kanji, both Hiragana and Katakana have gradually developed into their distinct forms, having their own set of nearly 46 symbols from which different words can be formed.
Though similar to Hiragana, Katakana varies in its style. Unlike Hiragana, the letters in katakana have sharper edges and are more angular. They are mostly used to represent words that are non-Japanese in origin.
Konnichiwa,
A nice article on Japanese tattoo symbols. You did your research well.
You may wish to also add that Hiragana was often used by females in early Japan to communicate in writing, as Kanji (ability to write them was a sign of high education) was often studied by males or those with money.
Keep up the great website!
Yumi
digital tattoo artist
byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee