Magnificent tattoos in the form of tattooed cats from a Japanese artist

It's not every day you see tattooed cats tattooing other cats. Such funny and absurd designs in the style of traditional detailed Japanese tattoos are created by artist Kazuaki Horitomo. His series of works is called Monmon Cats (monmon is Japanese slang for tattoos). Horitomo has been tattooing for over 20 years.

Horitomo studied tattooing with artists from San Francisco, but then realized that he could use Japanese culture, which he knew well. His drawings look like traditional engravings from the walls of ancient temples.

In ancient Japan, designs were applied to the skin using the tebori technique. For this, long metal tools with sharp needles at the end were used: with them the artist manually drove the paint into the skin. Some artists still use this technique today, although it requires more time and labor than using a typewriter.

A classic full-body tattoo—a “suit”—could take 200 hours, so the process took more than one day. Some modern artists who study classical Japanese tattooing are surprised at how they can complete the work in one day.

Horitomo uses traditional Japanese motifs in his tattoos. These could be dragons, tigers, carps, samurai, masks, flowers.

Dragon tattoos are still very popular: they are the most famous and commonly used design for the irezumi technique, symbolizing power, wisdom and strength. Even the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) had a dragon tattoo.

Not complete without cranes and sakura. The red-headed crane symbolizes longevity and prosperity in Japanese culture; these birds are found in almost all types of traditional art in the country.

Anthropomorphic demons also appear - evil and good.

Tattoo cat.

The word "koi" is translated from Japanese not only as "carp", but also as "love". The image of this fish on tattoos symbolizes luck, fearlessness, courage and perseverance.

Since cats are Japanese, they are supposed to eat sushi.

A bold choice of place for a tattoo.

The tiger in Japan is an attribute of warriors, symbolizing courage.

In the cat's paws is a traditional kiseru pipe for smoking finely chopped tobacco.

Monmon Cats artists at the California tattoo convention.

On social media The artist often shows online how real cats react to his work.

Album with drawings by Horitomo. His work has been exhibited at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.