Horimono

Organized crime generally uses tattoos to display affiliation to a certain gang, mafia, clan or region the wearer belongs to, as well as their status within the group. One such organization is the yakuza. Members get a full body suit known as horimono tattooed on them. Ryan Lobo, a photographer and filmmaker, writes, “Getting a horimono tattoo is a very painful process and takes months, sometimes years to complete…Each tattoo is unique and incredibly expensive” (8-9). Figure 2 is one of Lobo’s photographs of an individual getting a horimono tattoo. These types of tattoos are done by hand in the traditional way using bundled needles on a bamboo stick making the process extremely slow and painful. Enid Schildkrout feels that these “Tattoos can also signify bravery and commitment to a long, painful process…” (93). These individuals use their tattoos to pledge their alliance to the group, culture or…

Aritomo proposing to tattoo Yun Ling/ In comparison to Duffys "art" There are antagonistic undertones of using "needles as Aritomo 's primary apparatus to transact Yun Ling 's horimono, convenes the wider conflicts of antithesizing ideologies and motif 's presiding throughout the novel. Yun Ling 's angst and apprehension of the discomfort the needles will possibly inflict, is reassured by Aritomo 's analogy of likening the needle to that of a Paintbrush ("I will paint you"), he has therefore…

happened throughout her life Young Ling is still satisfied with the way her life has turned out. “Obtaining a horimono is a great honor in japan.” Later on in the book Aritomo asks Young Ling if he can create a tattoo for her called a Horimono and she agrees. With her agreeing for Aritomo to create a tattoo for her she is simply getting over what the japanese did to her by letting a Japanese man cause pain and inflict her with something she doesn't really want. But she knows it will make him…