August | 2021 | gaijINK

The outlining continues! My 94th appointment with Horizakura was 1.5 hours of outline around the Fudo-Myoo on my left arm. He continued the halo of flames on my inner arm and added the “head” of the Karura Flame on top of my shoulder. Longtime readers may remember that I offer very little input on the process. With the exception of a couple major pieces I have mostly let Horizakura design the whole tattoo on his own. This appointment was no different in that respect, but it was unique in another way. As he was designing the Karura Flame on my shoulder, he started having a conversation with his apprentices (who were observing) about the design. Mind you, all of this was in Japanese, so besides one or two words, my whole understanding of the exchange was from body language. The most interesting part about this was that this didn’t really seem to be Horizakura teaching his apprentices what he was doing, but more of an open dialogue about the design. It went on for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. He drew on me, they discussed, somebody made a suggestion, they drew an example on paper, he made some changes on me, and they discussed some more. At one point an apprentice even gloved up and drew on me a little, then more changes and discussion. The whole exchange was really fun to be a part of. I’m sure it would have been even cooler if I understood Japanese. While this was going on, I reflected on this part of the master – apprentice relationship. I don’t claim to know very much about the way a tattoo apprenticeship normally goes, much less a more traditional Japanese apprenticeship, but this particular interaction was much more of a two-way street than I would have expected. I suppose it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise as I know lots of tattoo artists will trade off working on the same drawing to play off of and learn from each other. I found it interesting that this back and forth was happening regarding a client’s tattoo. I wonder if a more particular client would be adamant about the artist they selected being the one to design the piece. It didn’t bother me at all that other people in the room (be they apprentices or otherwise) were having input on the process, that sort of community feedback can be a big part of art in general. I thought it was pretty awesome to be a part of, I’m glad it happened.

It’s been really exciting to see this sleeve come together. My whole tattoo has felt very peaceful to me. This sleeve is adding an intensity that I think really compliments the rest of the work. My next appointment can’t come soon enough!

My 93rd appointment with Horizakura was one hour of outlining flames and rocks on my Fudo sleeve. There were a couple spicy spots, but overall the whole arm is so much easier (by comparison) than some of the other areas that I’ve had tattooed. It was pretty breezy. I have to say that seeing this sleeve come together has been exciting. Longtime readers may recall that I had some reservations about getting a Fudo Myoo sleeve, mostly because I didn’t think my arms were big enough to communicate the power of the image. Each appointment has shown me more of the power of the image and I’m really stoked to see these flames in color (feels like that’s 100 years away). We chatted a bit about the future of the tattoo and about how he would like to tie my two sleeves together visually. He illustrated this by putting his two forearms together in front of his body, palms up. I proceeded to do the same so he could see what the areas would look like side by side and maybe sketch it out…. but I couldn’t do it. I’m either too fat or not bendy enough, but Horizakura’s reaction was simply, “You can’t touch?” Can’t wait to add this to the list of failures I go over every night before bed!

I almost forgot, something incredible happened during this appointment. I was told that I could keep my shorts on. First time in almost 6 years I didn’t have to wear a fundoshi. What a milestone!