Japanese Tattoo -art of Japanese tattoos

The art of Japanese tattoos is often referred to as irezumi; it is said that this particular type of Japanese tattoos has been going for hundreds of centuries now. It was when buddhism was introduced to Japan that Japanese tattoos saw a decline. At the time, the chinese, which brought buddhism to Japan, despised the art of tattooing. This lead to a decline in the number of Japanese tattoos inked.

The Mammoth Book of Tattoos