Irezumi vs Tebori
Tebori was influenced by Irezumi — the hand-poking technique traditional to Japanese irezumi.
Irezumi
Japanese full-body tattooing built from large flowing motifs, bold black outlines, and graded color set against decorative wind and water backgrounds.
- Bold confident black outlines around every motif
- Large iconic figures (dragon, koi, tiger, deity)
- Flowing background of waves, wind bars, and clouds
- Bodysuit composition with an unmarked chest seam
- Smoothly graded color and tonal shading
Tebori
The traditional Japanese hand-poking technique in which ink is inserted with a hand-held grouping of needles, producing soft, dimensional gradients.
- Hand-held needle rod (nomi) poked by hand
- Soft bokashi gradient shading
- Velvety, atmospheric color transitions
- Same motifs as irezumi (dragons, waves, blossoms)
- Rhythmic manual insertion rather than machine lines
At a glance
| Irezumi | Tebori | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Edo period–present | 1700s–present |
| Discipline | Tattoo | Tattoo |
| Region | Japan | Japan |
| Family | Japanese | Japanese |
| Formal traits | bold-outline, flowing-background, graded-color, pictorial, full-body | hand-poked, soft-gradient, bokashi-shading, atmospheric, pictorial |
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