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Tattoo History - Edo
Edo
Today Edo, the former name of the japanese capitol Tokyo, stands for the time period between 1603 and 1868 in which it was very common to mark delinquents with tataus. For committing the crime of theft, handling stolen goods or fraud, convicted felons received marks in the form of stripes on their arms or faces. The number and placement of the tataued stripes differed from city to city and showed where and what they were convicted for. This way, the banishment which came along with those convictions, was assured.
But tataus were not only markings on convicts during the Edo period. The Suikods, Chinese looter and rebel stories from the 14th century, where transfused into japanese and this finally initiated the tatau boom in the middle of the 18th century. The Suikods are still the foundation of the extensive and difficult far eastern form of the tattooing as we know it today. This form of tattooing is called Horimono.
