Herke's Heads (at the NY Empire State Tattoo Expo 2016)

Last summer at the New York Empire State Tattoo Expo (@nyempirestatetattooexpo), I met Herke (@tsurujo_irezuki), who had a couple of really interesting tattoos to share.

First up is this crane on his head:

Herke is a tattooer from Brig, Switzerland, and he owns the The Flying Dutchman Tattoo & Piercing Shop in nearby Naters, Switzerland.

He explained that his last name, Kranenborg, translates in Japanese to "Crane Castle." He is a traditional Japanese artists and he also has a kamon, which is a Japanese family crest, that includes a crane in the design. This piece was done in Japan by his tattoo master, Jess Yen (@jessyentattoo), who works out of the Los Angeles area at My Tattoo (@mytattooandpiercing), a shop he founded. Herke counts himself as one of Jess Yen's disciples.

He also shared this tattoo on his inner arm:

Herke explained that he received this to commemorate his 40th birthday. The artist is Jack Mosher (@jackmosher_horimuja) who works out of Hold Fast Tattoo in Prescott, Arizona.

Herke explained that in old Japan, after a battle was fought, the women from the victorious village would go to the battlefield, collect the chopped off heads of the slain enemies, clean them up and placed them around the village to commemorate the victories and warn people "if you mess with us, this is what happens to you." In a sense, it is a good luck symbol. It was actually the first tattoo that Herke showed me before I noticed the crane on his head.

Thanks to Herke for sharing his fantastic tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

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