Ryota's Neck Tattoo

At the end of last summer, in Bowling Green, I met Ryota (@steeal_by_sicks), who told me he was a fashion designer/artist visiting the U.S. from Kyoto, Japan. We had some difficulty communicating, but he shared this neck tattoo he designed, which incorporates what he called "life symbols."

Thanks to Ryota for sharing this cool tattoo with us on Tattoosday!

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Joseph's Flash Hands

Back on Independence Day I posted a chest piece on Joseph (here) that I took a photo of last June on the Whitehall subway platform. I had been meaning to post Joseph's hands, as well, so here they are:

The pocket watch, swallows and bell were all tattooed by Matt Huff (@matthufftattoo) at Brooklyn Ink (@originalbrooklynink) in Bay Ridge. Joseph told me the work is based on the flash of the legendary Dan Higgs.

Thanks to Joseph for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2018 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Getting the Work Done - Samuel's Latin Leg

Last summer, I spotted a man walking down Broad Street and I had to ask him about his tattoo, I had never quite seen words done like this before:

The tattoo reads, in Latin:

"Amen, amen

dico vobis,

nisi granum

frumenti

cadens in

terram,

mortuum

fuerit, ipsum

solum manet:

si autum

mortuum

fuerit,

multum

frustum

affert"

Samuel, who had this tattoo on his leg, translated this as "Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless a seed falls into the earth and dies, it does alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit."

This is from the Latin Vulgate, the late 4th Century translation of the gospels that became the was the Catholic Church's official text for centuries. The passage hails from the Book of John, Chapter 12, Verse 24. 

Samuel said he interprets this to also mean, "Kill your desires, get the work done and you'll prosper," noting that the sentiment is "as Buddhist as it is Christian."

The font used is a customized version meant to recall Gothic lettering and told me this was inked at Spike-O-Matic Tattoo (@spikeomatictattoo) in Madison, Wisconsin.

Thanks to Samuel for sharing his cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2018 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.