Until the year 500, the decoration of the body with a tattoo remained a privilege of the emperors, but later it turned into a punishment for criminals.
For many centuries, the population of ancient Japan used the art of tattooing for decorative body modifications. But in the seventh century the rulers adopted from the Chinese the custom of tattooing people for the purpose of criminal punishment.
For millennia, tattoos were noted by outcasts. As a rule, the drawings were put on a prominent place - on the face or on the hands - that evidence of past human sins.
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Tattooing for the purpose of punishment is still out of fashion, even decorative and artistic tattoos began to revive. But the drawings on the body were still associated with crime.
In 1805, a Japanese translation of the Chinese novel "River Creek" (Suikoden) was published. The book was illustrated with luxurious colored engravings, in which the heroes were dressed in tattoos with complex patterns of flowers, animals and fairy-tale characters. The novel was very popular and provoked an unprecedented interest in such tattoos.
Despite their high popularity, tattoos were officially outlawed for their detrimental effect on public morals. The ban on them strictly operated in the Meiji era. In those days, drawing the picture on the body, the Japanese were likened to the inhabitants of the "barbarian West".
But many Japanese continued to apply tattoos in clandestine salons. The art of tattoos became associated with yakuza gangsters, for whom the painful and illegal process of applying complex tattoos was considered a testament of courage and commitment to a criminal way of life.
Although nowadays tattoos are not prohibited in Japan, this topic remains delicate. For many, they are still associated with the world of crime, so in public baths and hot springs, tattooed clients are often denied.