Tebori

Yoshi, a problematic teenager, is sent by his grandfather to his friend Seijun, one of the great Japanese tattoo artists. Ten years later, Yoshi has completely mastered the complex tattoo technique called tebori. Seijun one day reveals to his student that most of his customers belong to various Yakuza gangs, and that each tattoo has a specific meaning that it is often better not to disclose. Takeshi is one of those customers, with a tattoo that covers his whole back, depicting a strange creature that is said to be the omen of disaster… Yoshi is asked to do a tattoo for a mysterious Japanese girl, Otsuya, who “collects” tattoos from the great masters of the art. Yoshi eventually discovers the pattern that covers her back: a bizarre creature, the same as Takeshi’s! A new trilogy from the authors of Ken Games set in a fascinating segment of Japanese society, somewhere between ancient tradition and exhilarating modernism.