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Old 04-28-2014, 10:15 AM   #64
Michael Hackett
Dojo: Kenshinkan Dojo (Aikido of North County) Vista, CA
Location: Oceanside, California
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,253
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Re: Aikido and Tattoos

I had a small dragon tattoo done while I was on R&R in Okinawa from Vietnam. Over the years it faded and lost it's definition. Many years later a tattoo artist who was a friend of a friend told me he could refresh it and make it look new. The tattoo was on my right calf and was seldom seen, but I still valued it because of the good fortune it implied (and apparently worked too, since I didn't end up with any extra holes in my body). When he was done, the darned thing looked like a green pug dog and was horrible. I decided to have it removed and learned that it was going to take months and months of many sessions and would be horribly expensive and horribly painful. I decided to just live with it.

Then the various tattoo shows began showing on TV and I saw how old tattoos could be covered with new ink. After a great deal of searching I found a local artist who could do the job. I gave him a copy of one of my wife's pastel paintings of a samurai warrior. He was able to convert it into a more tattoo friendly design and eleven and a half hours later, the dragon was completely concealed.

A couple of months later I returned to the same artist with our dojo stamp and had him place it on the inside of the calf and it looks exactly like a stamping on formal documents from our dojo. Unless I'm wearing shorts, the tattoos aren't visible, so they don't present any problem, but I haven't tried visiting any Japanese baths either. No regrets and my dragon is still there, hidden away but still protective.

Michael
"Leave the gun. Bring the cannoli."
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