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Old 12-19-2004, 04:36 PM   #51
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: tattoos

Saw an interesting tattoo at the Nevada Police Olympics in 2003. One competitor from LVMPD SWAT was a submission grappler and had a number of tattoos, but the most interesting was the word "Suffer" in Old English print in an arc across his belly. Based on his performance, he seemed to mean it too. Talk about atemi! Some of his opponents were at a disadvantage before the match started. One of the most pleasant people at the tournament too.

Michael
"Leave the gun. Bring the cannoli."
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Old 12-20-2004, 12:14 AM   #52
Joe Bowen
 
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Dojo: Yongsan Aikikai
Location: But now I'm in the UK
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 212
South Korea
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Re: tattoos

Well, whether your for tattoos are against them, just be careful what you ask for. I know a young Australian Aikido student who asked for a particular Kanji that he had xeroxed out of a dictionary. What he didn't count on was the semicolon which separated the different Kanji representing the same meaning. So his kanji when I looked at it didn't look right as it had two extra strokes added when the artist doing the tattoo mistook the semicolon as part of the kanji. Talk about mistakes....
I myself got a tattoo with a bunch of friends when we were all in college. That very evening over dinner, heard my father say that people who get tattoos were stupid, and not far-sighted. He didn't know at the time that I had had the tattoo...
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Old 12-20-2004, 12:40 AM   #53
disabledaccount
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 50
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Re: tattoos

I've got a brief stanza from the Shobugenzo tattooed on my right forearm which Maezumi Roshi inked for me shortly before his death. He presented it to me on the day I took my buddhist precepts. It reads "Cultivate the bodhi mind", and is very special to me. It's a great ice breaker, and I like to imagine that it plants a little Dharma seed whenever the inevitable philosophy/theology discussion ensues. I've got several more tattoos, but that one's the most meaningful.
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Old 12-24-2004, 10:18 AM   #54
JAHsattva
Location: kansas city
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 29
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Re: tattoos

heres a link up to my tattoos

click here

um.. before getting tattoo'd study everything imaginable.

i got Osensei's kanji of aikido.

aikido training is a life long task.

if it gets ugly later in life ,so be it.

part of my reasoning behind tattoos is that
they remind us of how impermanent our bodies really are.

enjoy!
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Old 12-27-2004, 01:05 PM   #55
garry cantrell
Location: texas
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 35
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Re: tattoos

i'd get one if i could think of something that i like well enouhg to make a permanent feature of my body - but geez, i can't decide on a necktie that i like for more than a week or so, much less a tattoo. lol.
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Old 01-05-2005, 01:48 PM   #56
ryujin
 
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Dojo: Renshinkan
Location: Tempe, AZ
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Re: tattoos

I thought about getting a tattoo once, but since I lived near an airport at the time, I thought I'd get annoyed with him running outside and pointing at the sky yelling "Boss! Da plane, da plane!"



Actually, I have been contemplating getting the Celtic Tree of Life tattooed on my back. I found a highly recommended artist here in AZ, I just need to find the time and spare cash. Don't know If I can afford to be out of practice for two weeks while it heals properly.



Carl Bilodeau
Jiyūshin-ryū AikiBudō
Renshinkan

"Yield to temptation — it may not pass your way again." - Robert Heinlein
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Old 01-05-2005, 02:02 PM   #57
JAHsattva
Location: kansas city
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: tattoos

ryujin,

check the link again on my previous post.

there's a celtic tree of life on my back.

it did hurt.
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Old 01-06-2005, 11:04 AM   #58
ryujin
 
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Dojo: Renshinkan
Location: Tempe, AZ
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Re: tattoos

Yeah, I saw that. I like how you framed it with the tiger and the the dragon. Nice work.

I was going to go for the more traditional style and have the circle of vines around it. I was also considering having the leaves in the vines colored in a clockwise direction to represent the changes of season.

Last edited by ryujin : 01-06-2005 at 11:06 AM.

Carl Bilodeau
Jiyūshin-ryū AikiBudō
Renshinkan

"Yield to temptation — it may not pass your way again." - Robert Heinlein
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Old 06-22-2008, 05:51 AM   #59
hapkidoike
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 51
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Re: tattoos

I have searched the forums and have not found an answer to this; Will it hinder my ability to go train in Japan If I have a tattoo (even though it is quite unnoticeable and not visible when wearing a short sleeved t-shirt)? The ink in question is quite boring, (a quarter inch solid black line around my arm above the bicep) and doesn't mean anything to anybody but me.

If anybody knows whether or not this would be a serious issue please let me know.

Thank you,
Isaac Bettis

Ich glaube dass mein Schwein pfeifen.
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Old 06-22-2008, 06:29 PM   #60
jennifer paige smith
 
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Dojo: Confluence Aiki-Dojo / Santa Cruz Sword Club
Location: Santa Cruz
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: tattoos

Quote:
Dennis Hooker wrote: View Post
At the risk of pissing folks off here I go again!

Well, I am an old man and even my friends say I'm to damn conservative in my attitudes (leave out politics please). My son has a couple of tattoos and I love him. But where and when I was brought up observation told me and a hard ass DI taught me (when I wanted to join some guys and get a tattoo that said " Death Before Dishonor") that when a person did not hold a cretin quality they desired on the inside they had printed on the outside.

I know attitudes toward body art must have changes since my early formidable years. However old beliefs die hard if ever.
To join in the pissing category: Indeed, if a person is lacking a 'Cretin' quality on the inside they paint it on the outside . wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Anecdote: In my High School Aikido Class a student inquired if I had any Aikido tattoos. I responded "Yes. I have a 'Mu Tattoo' right here." and I pointed to my heart. The school supplied assistant rolled her eyes as f to say "You're talking over his head. He doesn't get it, Jen." And so I asked him, "You know what I mean, right?" and he responded very directly and with a loving smile "Yeah. You mean Aikido has tattood your soul."
I raised my shoulders and shrugged in total satisfaction.

I love that Kid!!!!

Last edited by jennifer paige smith : 06-22-2008 at 06:33 PM.

Jennifer Paige Smith
Confluence Aikido Systems
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Old 06-22-2008, 09:00 PM   #61
mwible
Dojo: Aikido of Suenaka-Ha in Greater Richmond
Location: virginia, U.S.A.
Join Date: Jan 2007
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Re: tattoos

Quote:
Daniel Blanco wrote: View Post
TO ALL CONCERNED REGARDING THE TATTOO:

TO TATTOO IS THE FORM OF ONES EXPRESSIONS AND DEDICATIONS IN THEIR LIFE. IF YOU DIG DEEP ENOUGH YOU WILL FIND FAULT IN EVERYTHING. GETTING A TATTOO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TRAINING. I HAVE AIKIDO IN JAPANESE ON MY RIGHT ARM AND IT HAS NOT EFFECTED MY TRAINING IN A NEGATIVE WAY, BUT BECAUSE OF MY SELF CONFIDENCE IT MAY HAVE MADE ME MORE FOCUSED AND DEDICATED TO THE ART. I CONTINUE TRAINING REGULARLY COMING UP ON MY TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY. GETTING A TATOO IS NOT RIGHT FOR THE PERSON THAT WORRIES ABOUT WHAT EVERYONE THINKS. I RESPECT THE TATTOO ARTIST AS IT IN ITSELF IS AN ART AS I WOULD LIKE TO BE RESPECTED FOR THE ART OF AIKIDO.
well put, my friend
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Old 06-23-2008, 02:15 PM   #62
Lyle Bogin
Dojo: Shin Budo Kai
Location: Manhattan
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 588
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Re: tattoos

I have three small tattoos, one related to aikido. I had a small rectangular bar done on my right arm when I earned my dan ranking..so I can accumulate them as I move up in rank, one below the other.
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Old 06-24-2008, 03:21 PM   #63
eventus
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3
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Re: tattoos

I'm replying to the quotes that subsequently follow my insignificant thoughts. Suppose I grant you that someone with tattoos paints on the outside what they lack on the inside. SO WHAT? Does it give you great satisfaction in trying to shame people? We all lack something; none of us are perfect. That some of us choose to express ourselves through body art does not imply deficiency, it implies beauty through expression and art and self. Yes I lack "cretins" as you guys call them. Yes, I may even display the "cretins" that I lack on my body in the forms of tattoos. But who are you to pass any judgment on my choices? I'm just trying to be the best person I can be in spit of the challenges that I face on a daily basis. Body art is, for me, a form of communion with my spirit. What's inside of me and outside of me get expressed in harmonious fashion. Doesn't that idea of harmony remind you of some principle you claim to practice in your "beautiful, loving art?"

"Re: tattoos
Quote:
Dennis Hooker wrote: View Post
At the risk of pissing folks off here I go again!

Well, I am an old man and even my friends say I'm to damn conservative in my attitudes (leave out politics please). My son has a couple of tattoos and I love him. But where and when I was brought up observation told me and a hard ass DI taught me (when I wanted to join some guys and get a tattoo that said " Death Before Dishonor") that when a person did not hold a cretin quality they desired on the inside they had printed on the outside.

I know attitudes toward body art must have changes since my early formidable years. However old beliefs die hard if ever.
To join in the pissing category: Indeed, if a person is lacking a 'Cretin' quality on the inside they paint it on the outside . wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Anecdote: In my High School Aikido Class a student inquired if I had any Aikido tattoos. I responded "Yes. I have a 'Mu Tattoo' right here." and I pointed to my heart. The school supplied assistant rolled her eyes as f to say "You're talking over his head. He doesn't get it, Jen." And so I asked him, "You know what I mean, right?" and he responded very directly and with a loving smile "Yeah. You mean Aikido has tattood your soul."
I raised my shoulders and shrugged in total satisfaction.

I love that Kid!!!!"
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Old 06-28-2008, 09:55 AM   #64
Dan O'Day
 
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Location: Redmond, Washington
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: tattoos

I've got tattoos. I followed the Grateful Dead around for about 15 years. I have a couple of steal your faces I designed along with a musical notes band around my arm.

Twenty or more years later and I don't regret it. The experience during those years was fantastic...a big part of my life. Today aikido is a big part of my life. i don't have any aikido related tattoos nor do I have current intentions of getting any but someday that may change.

Years ago my dad had a farm out in the middle of nowhere and a bit inland on the Oregon Coast. I lived there for awhile as a teenager. He had a sign over the road entrance.

TEHO was all it read. I asked him what it meant. To Each His Own, he said.

Pretty simple stuff and over thirty years later I still remember. Just like it was yesterday.
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Old 06-28-2008, 12:38 PM   #65
jennifer paige smith
 
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Dojo: Confluence Aiki-Dojo / Santa Cruz Sword Club
Location: Santa Cruz
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,049
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Re: tattoos

Quote:
John Lee wrote: View Post
I'm replying to the quotes that subsequently follow my insignificant thoughts. Suppose I grant you that someone with tattoos paints on the outside what they lack on the inside. SO WHAT? Does it give you great satisfaction in trying to shame people? We all lack something; none of us are perfect. That some of us choose to express ourselves through body art does not imply deficiency, it implies beauty through expression and art and self. Yes I lack "cretins" as you guys call them. Yes, I may even display the "cretins" that I lack on my body in the forms of tattoos. But who are you to pass any judgment on my choices? I'm just trying to be the best person I can be in spit of the challenges that I face on a daily basis. Body art is, for me, a form of communion with my spirit. What's inside of me and outside of me get expressed in harmonious fashion. Doesn't that idea of harmony remind you of some principle you claim to practice in your "beautiful, loving art?"

"Re: tattoos
Quote:
Dennis Hooker wrote: View Post
At the risk of pissing folks off here I go again!

Well, I am an old man and even my friends say I'm to damn conservative in my attitudes (leave out politics please). My son has a couple of tattoos and I love him. But where and when I was brought up observation told me and a hard ass DI taught me (when I wanted to join some guys and get a tattoo that said " Death Before Dishonor") that when a person did not hold a cretin quality they desired on the inside they had printed on the outside.

I know attitudes toward body art must have changes since my early formidable years. However old beliefs die hard if ever.
To join in the pissing category: Indeed, if a person is lacking a 'Cretin' quality on the inside they paint it on the outside . wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Anecdote: In my High School Aikido Class a student inquired if I had any Aikido tattoos. I responded "Yes. I have a 'Mu Tattoo' right here." and I pointed to my heart. The school supplied assistant rolled her eyes as f to say "You're talking over his head. He doesn't get it, Jen." And so I asked him, "You know what I mean, right?" and he responded very directly and with a loving smile "Yeah. You mean Aikido has tattood your soul."
I raised my shoulders and shrugged in total satisfaction.

I love that Kid!!!!"
Gosh, I thought it was obvious. The whole first paragraph of the my quote was a joke based on a mis-spelling of the word 'certain' in Dennis Hooker Sensei's post (which is mixed in with mine and slightly indiscernible in the quoted post above). 'We' don't call them 'cretins'.

The second part is purely an anecdote that says nothing of the quality of having a tattoo on the outside of one's body. And, I didn't actually say wether I do or don't have a tattoo on my body. I didn't tell my high school student and I'm not going to tell anyone online.Personal info.

Nor did I say how I feel about it. But because things seem to have gotten a little touchy here, I will say. It couldn't be any less my business how others choose to adorn their bodies ( Except when I'm teaching in my dojo. And then, please tape up your piercings). It is up to an individual to decide how they feel about their life/body and expression and how they choose to enact those feelings.

Personal choice. Personal Responsibility. Personal freedom.

Last edited by jennifer paige smith : 06-28-2008 at 12:46 PM.

Jennifer Paige Smith
Confluence Aikido Systems
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Old 06-28-2008, 06:29 PM   #66
Rennis Buchner
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 62
Japan
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Re: tattoos

Quote:
Isaac Bettis wrote: View Post
I have searched the forums and have not found an answer to this; Will it hinder my ability to go train in Japan If I have a tattoo (even though it is quite unnoticeable and not visible when wearing a short sleeved t-shirt)? The ink in question is quite boring, (a quarter inch solid black line around my arm above the bicep) and doesn't mean anything to anybody but me.

If anybody knows whether or not this would be a serious issue please let me know.

Thank you,
Isaac Bettis
Case by case. I think it depends more on the sensei than the art and being a foreigner will make a difference as well. Off hand I can think of one sensei that would not let anyone with tattoos join their dojo. On the other hand the local aikido sensei (who unfortunately has since passed away) had at least one tattooed American training at his dojo for awhile. My own sensei has allowed tattooed foreigners to train before. I know he isn't a big fan of tattoos, but he says "well, young people do stupid things, no point in holding it over their heads the rest of their life." Most Japanese people realize that Westerners have different attitudes on tattoos than they do and seem to at least try to be more forgiving to the foreign deshi. Again, case by case.

I'm interested on what the situation will be in about 10 years from now will be as in recent years tattooing has become rather popular among Japanese of roughly my generation and below, especially among women surprisingly. In Uni. I knew at least ten classmates (all of them women) who had small tattoos somewhere easily hidden on their bodies. Since then I have completely lost count as so many people I know have gotten them.

For what it's worth,
Rennis Buchner
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