Japanese Katakana Tattoos
Japanese Katakana is a form of short-hand that was taken from Chinese characters that were used by Buddhist monks during the ninth century. In the beginning, there were a large range of different symbol to represent on syllable of Japanese. Over time the system was refined until it come to full fruition during the fourteenth century. After the fourteenth century, there was a direct correspondence between the written Japanese symbols and the spoken Japanese language. Japanese Katakana is made up of roughly forty-eight syllables and were very much considered to be writing that should only be done by men.
Since the twentieth century, Japanese Katakana has been used to transcribe words from other languages other than Chinese. These often include foreign names and onomatopeic words (words that look like they sound). Japanese Katakana make for beautiful and elaborate tattoos, but caution should be exercised by the person looking to get one. It takes someone who is skilled in Japanese Katakana to properly transcribe the word that you want. If you get someone who is not skilled in this art-form. or someone who doesn’t speak English very well, then you can end up with a tattoo that means something other than your original intention. |
