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In the 19th century whole stories and dramas were described by tattoos. Since 1885 is the full body tattoo known on dark ground, after pictures of genre painters. All motives passed over seamless in each other and were manifold. Popular subjects were for example robber shapes, monsters and other creatures, fighting heros, spirits stories and demons stories, as well as Buddhist prayer formulas. The combinations of the motives were defeated by traditional rules. The Buddhist god “Kanon” was always represented on a riding dragon, if she was not duplicated alone. The motives of the flora were also defeated by certain models. So the chrysanthemums belong to the “lion-dog” and falling cherry blossoms or autumn foliage were seen as a symbol of the death. After the opening to the west, Japanese tattoos soon reached a status symbol. From 1860 on Hori Choy worked in Tokyo, the Prince of Wales was one of his popular customers. His student Sutherland MacDonald counted as the “Michelangelo” of the tattoo producers. He knows around 20 colour tones and shadings and was the first tattoo artist, who produced popular paintings on the back of his customers.
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