I know it’s been awhile since I had an update here. I’ve been taking pictures after each appointment, but thought I would wait for this milestone to aggregate all three sessions into one post. Sessions 136, 137, and 138 were pretty similar, a nice return to form after so many new tattoo experiences the past couple months. Each was two hours of tebori on my left arm and a bit of shoulder. With the conclusion of appointment 138 with Horizakura, I can confidently say that our next appointment he will begin coloring my tattoo. We are one dragon’s whisker away from being totally done with the shading. I assume it won’t take more than 30 minutes to complete, after which it is my assumption that we will offically switch to color. I can’t believe it’s finally here. I’m so incredibly excited to see how this bodysuit begins to change over the coming months. Unfortunately, that appointment will not be for another two weeks. It can’t come soon enough!
Horizakura finished all the black and gray shading on my arm during our 135th appointment! I am very excited to have passed another milestone in the process. After we wrapped up the appointment, Horizakura had mentioned that the next appointment would be the start of color! While you might imagine that I was exploding with joy at the news, I had to burst the bubble myself. I pointed out a couple spots that had been missed as Horizakura worked his way around my body. There is a wave on my left arm, a spot on my shoulder, and one of the dragon’s whiskers on my back never got shaded back in 2017 when he was working on that area. As Horizakura looked these parts over, he also realized that he still needed to shade Fudo’s skin as well! This was absent from my own list because Fudo-Myoo is sometimes rendered with blue skin and I wasn’t sure if Horizakura would choose to go that route or the (probably more traditional) black/gray skin route. He tends to show a lot of restraint with color in his work, so I should have guessed the skin would be tattooed black. Anyway, all that is to say we are not quite out of the Black and Gray Woods yet! We are very, very close though and I am very, very excited!
As mentioned in my December update, my 134th appointment with Horizakura took place at the Star of Texas Tattoo Convention in Austin, TX. This was a pretty special experience for me all around. It was the first time I’ve attended a tattoo convention in another state all by myself, which afforded me lots and lots of time to bullshit with people and hang around. I was proud of the opportunity to sit in Horizakura’s booth to talk to folks while he and his apprentice were busy tattooing. I was also really happy to be able to meet a couple of Horizakura’s other clients (shout out to Cole and Joe Chatt). I had the chance to meet up with a buddy from out of state too which was nice (sorry if I bullied you into getting tattooed Trev). I ate delicious barbeque and tacos and Thai food and tacos and tacos. I like tacos.
As for the actual work on my suit, with the way my flights in/out of town worked and Horizakura’s schedule, on Saturday we were able to get in 2 hours of tattooing on my right sleeve. My appointment also overlapped with the NFL Divisional round between the Ravens and the Texans. This is the first time I have ever watched or listened to something while getting tattooed. I didn’t care for it much but it was the playoffs, baby! It’s must watch TV. I’m writing this the day before the Superbowl so clearly things didn’t go the way I wanted, but it doesn’t change the fact that I got to eat tacos for breakfast, get tattooed at a convention, drink beer, and watch the Ravens win a playoff game. That’s a winner on the Great Day for Jordan Bingo Card. FYI: Drinking beer would be the Free Space on that bingo card.
One last exciting note from the trip before I hit you with a photo dump: Upon arriving at the convention and looking over Horizakura’s booth, I noticed a little sign that revealed the title he had given to his apprentice! Congratulations Shindo, it has been very exciting to be an outside observer of your path as a horishi! Ganbatte!
Another year of tattooing is in the books for Horizakura and me. We had a couple milestones in there. We crossed 200 hours of tattooing and finished the outline of my bodysuit. We are also maybe two or three appointments away from being finished with all the bokashi.
In 2023, I had 19 appointments with Horizakura and racked up 34 hours of tattooing. This ties my record for number of appointments in a year (2017) which is extra upsetting if you recall that I spaced out and missed an appointment over the summer. I could have broken the record! On a brighter note, I did log two more total hours this year than I did in 2017 (32 hours). This is likely a function of the outline being mostly complete so less time was spent drawing during appointments this year.
I think this year moreso than other years, I have been struck by the number of doors this tattoo has opened for me. I have had the opportunity to meet many of my tattoo heroes and many tattooers that are new to me. I’ve been allowed to walk through some incredible tattoo shops just to take in the history on the walls. I was honored to wear the fabrics of wuhao newyork Tenugui Art for a photo shoot. I was almost as honored to recreate this fantastic meme with Dan and Joe. I had a great time talking with Jean at Waboripedia about my tattoo experience over the last ten years. Many, many people are quick to thank me for sharing so much of this tattoo process with the world. The truth is that even if nobody had any interest at all in this blog or my tattoo, I would still keep track of it for myself. It’s important to me to have something I can look back on to remember these appointments and this journey. That said, this year has made me realize this isn’t a totally selfless endeavor. I believe I have received more from the tattoo community than what I have given by sharing these pictures of my gut and butt. Just having the opportunity to say “Yes!” to so many of these experiences is more than I ever could have hoped would come out of this tattoo. I never imagined that people would care so much or show as much authentic interest in the work as they have, and I certainly never expected that care to manifest itself in these different experiences. I know that I haven’t done anything besides show up and that the real hero of our story is Horizakura. It’s a mutual love for his work and this style of tattoo that has brought all of this to my doorstep. It is a great privilege to be able to share that work with whomever wants to see it. Thanks again for another great year!
(This was my first time ever tying a real fundoshi, so don’t give me any shit for my sloppy work here.)
My 133rd appointment with Horizakura was 1.5ish hours of tebori on my right wrist. This appointment finished the final edge of my bodysuit, meaning my ankles, writsts, and neckline are totally shaded. Feels like good progress and fits the overall vibe of the process lately. Feels like every appointment is a signficant one these last few weeks.
This appointment took place on Dec 10th, and as we were looking forward in the calendar, we realized that because of travel and holidays our next appointment would have been on January 21st. Except even that appointment would have to be cancelled because Horizakura was going to be taking his apprentice to the Star of Texas Tattoo show in Austin, TX that weekend. That would put our next appointment in the first week of February which filled me to the brim with sorrow. So I decided that I would go to the convention in Texas so I could keep my appointment in January. Possibly one of the more insane tattoo related decisions I have ever made, but I had enough miles to get the flights for free so I decided to pull the trigger. I have never had the opporunity to be tattooed at a convention and I don’t know if I will ever have the opportunity again with Horizakura. So yeah. I’ll be in Austin mid January for my next appointment. Please look forward to it.
I forgot to take pictures after Session 132. You might be noticing a pattern here lately of me forgetting to take these photos in a timely fashion. I’ve decided I’m going to stop apologizing for that. It’s certainly not how I want to run things here. I think this blog, as a resource to others, is at its best if I can provide timely progress photos in a consistent way. Unfortunately I’m at a point in my life where that is proving to be particularly challenging. I’m commited to continuing to do the absolute best job I can here, but I have to make peace with the fact that it may not always live up to the ideals I have in mind.
The manifestation of my busy schedule conflicting with my desire for neat, concise updates on this blog was the following picture, taken it a panic in Horizakura’s studio right before Session 133 was about to begin.
As we were getting ready to start, I realized I had never taken a picture for this blog post and so I whipped out my phone and haphazardly snapped this pic. As luck would have it, Session 133 ended up being on my wrist, so I was able to take actual photos of the progress from 132 without any confusion. My 132nd appointment with Horizakura was 1.5ish hours of tebori extending my half sleeve by Horishun towards my elbow. These are all easy appointments, so there’s not much more to say regarding the work itself. Here is a proper, significantly less panicked, photo:
Each time I sit down to write an entry here, I spend a minute collecting all the things I will need for the post. I’ll pull up my spreadsheet, make sure all my photos are ready to go, and then I typically check my previous blog post. I knew that I was a post or two behind, but I felt confident that I had been keeping good photo records of the process even if I was a couple weeks late. Imagine my shock when I realized my last post was in September. September? SEPTEMBER. How could this be? It’s about to be December! All reasonable explanations of a busy work schedule, homeownership, and toddler wranglin’ are being rejected in favor of a much more comprehensible explanation: There is a tear in the fabric of space in North Jersey. I’m too dumb to prove it, but it’s the only way I can imagine blinking two months out of existence. Once I recovered from my Physics-induced nosebleed, I discovered that the only appoinment I didn’t take photos after was 130 (more on that later). In light of this catastrophic failure, I think it would be best for me to attempt to take this appoitment by appointment.
Session 129
This appointment was two hours of tebori on my right forearm. This was a very easy appointment for me.
Session 130
This is where we go a little “off book.” I typically never have my phone on me during appointments and if I do, I don’t take it out. Well during this appointment I just so happened to snap a quick picture during the appointment so we are in luck. This was taken about an hour and a half into our two hour tebori session. It gives a good enough idea of where we were at by the end of this appointment.
Session 131
This session reminded me why I likely forgot to take pictures after my 130th appointment. I usually wait as long as possible after an appointment so the tattoo has a little bit of time to heal before I take pictures. Well on the day before this appointment, I pulled a muscle in my neck so badly that I was basically bed-ridden for a day. The next morning, I wasn’t certain I would even be able to drive a car safely, so I went for a drive to a local store as a test. I felt that I was able to do everything I needed to, so I resolved to drive myself to my appontment that day (much to my wife’s chagrin). The distraction is certainly what caused me to forget to take update photos before this appointment. It’s worth noting that I just took these pictures in late November of this appointment from late October so the tattoo is pretty much totally healed. We cancelled an appointment mid-Novemeber because Horizakura was travelling.
On my 128th appointment with Horizakura we finished the outline of my bodysuit.
If you have been following along with me for any amount of time, I’m sure you can guess how happy I am to have reached this milestone. Just like everything in life, I have found that actually achieving the goal doesn’t feel quite like I imagined it would feel. I guess in my head I expected a lot of high-fiving and flowing whisky, maybe some music and somebody doing a wheelie on a motorcycle. The reality has been mixed feelings of tranquility, pride, resolve, and sadness. Out of everything, the sadness was perhaps the most unexpected, but really when you think about it, it’s not that far outside the realm of comprehension. A completed outline means that, in large part, the tattoo has been defined in its entirety. The shading and the color will change it all by giving depth and life to the content, but there is a sort of bittersweet feeling knowing that a good amount of the mystery is gone. Even with that bittersweet sensation on my mind, there is no doubt that the most exciting times are still ahead of me. I know from my experience with my half sleeve just how much color changes a tattoo. The prospect of beginning with the color before this year is over is almost too much to hope for, but with steady progress I think we are very likely to get there.
As for this appointment, it was just fine. I’ve mentioned before how unpleasant the chest was for me, so forearms, elbows, and elbow ditches are nothing by comparison. Horizakura spent a little while drawing in the rest of the background on my forearm. Just before we started, I reminded him that he had previously mentioned that he would shorten the V in my right armpit to match what he had designed for my left sleeve. I wasn’t sure that he wanted to do that during this appointment, but I decided to speak up about it anyway. He seemed glad that I mentioned it because he made the measurements and added the necessary linework there. By the time he wrapped up the outlines, there was still about an hour left for our appointment. In the past, he has always just cut the appointment short if he reached a natural stopping point for the day. However for this appointment, almost as a pracitcal manifestation of the momentum we seem to be building, after he finished with the outline, he took 15 minutes and set up his station for tebori and got into some shading as well! This is the first time I can recall him outlining and shading me in the same appointment. I love the spirit of using all the time available to us. It feels like we’re really moving now!
From here on out, it looks like it’s all tebori all the time. I couldn’t be happier.
I am very happy to report that my 126th and 127th appointments with Horizakura involved extending my right half sleeve to match my left full sleeve. I have been anticipating these appointments for quite some time. Patience is paramount in this process (I’d like to see you whippersnappers find alliteration that good on Twitter!). While I have always endeavored to stay patient and recognize that all progress is progress towards the final goal, having one half sleeve and one full sleeve has been driving me nuts for over a year. I’m really happy to have almost my entire right sleeve outlined as of this writing.
I would love to feign intent and tell you that this combo post was dictated by the content of the tattoo, but that would be a straight up lie. I continue to be quite lazy when it comes to these updates. Horizakura and I are meeting for tattoo appointments at a record pace and part of the reason for this blog was to fill in the times when I’m not getting tattooed. Well now 99% of the time I’m not getting tattooed is occupied by a toddler. Between the breakneck pace of the tattooing and the breakneck speed of my son heading towards some unforeseen danger, this blog has started to slip a little. Fortunately, I have been pretty good about remembering to take pictures at regular intervals so the integrity of the progress photos is mostly intact.
As far as that little lie about intent I mentioned above, well the content of my right forearm is designed to tie-in with my Fudo Myo-o sleeve in a pretty direct way. Fudo is very often depicted with two attendants (I think there are 8 total attendants, but two are more commonly placed with Fudo than any of the others) named Seitaka Doji and Kongara Doji. Horizakura has tattooed their respective bonji on my right forearm and surrounded them with fire, water, and rocks to match my left sleeve. Kongara’s bonji was tattooed at 126 and we just did Seitaka’s last night during appointment 127. Each session was two hours of drawing and tattooing. Because of the interconnectedness of the content, I do think that my laziness worked in my favor for this particular post. It’s easier to understand the concept of the pairing with both bonji present. Interestingly, the right side of my body now contains four total bonji, but I do feel that the way these two are implemented makes them stand out as more of a thematic element of the tattoo. By contrast, the other two bonji I have are for family members and they are both far more understated in their execution. I mentioned this to Horizakura while we were discussing options for my forearm and he was not at all concerned with adding more bonji to the mix. Well if it’s fine with him, then it’s fine with me!
Finally, you will notice that there is only a small area left to tattoo under my right elbow ditch. This indicates to me that we will have finished the entire outline by the end of my next appointment. Have I mentioned that I’m excited?
With my 124th and 125th appointments with Horizakura, we finished up the shading on my chest. All the blackwork is done on my torso. It’s truly thrilling because 1) I get a break from chest tattoos for a while and 2) we are moving on to the last portion of outline for the bodysuit. Tomorrow we will be outlining my right forearm and I am very, very excited. I’m not even sure if we’re going to stick with the original plan or if it’s going to change a bit, but finishing the outline of my bodysuit feels like a big milestone. I’m not certain that we will actually finish the whole forearm outline tomorrow, it might take two appointments, but I’m very excited nonetheless!
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. Below are photos taken after my 125th appointment. I forgot to take photos after my 124th appointment. Life has been super busy lately and it messed with my usual cadence a bit I guess. Appointment 124 focused on the clouds and wind bars on my ribs. 125 (which you can see is still healing) was one last area of rock in my armpit and the last portion of my chest. Each appointment was about an hour and a half.
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