Martial Arts Tattoos

[IAMA_chick]

definately not in my school..or style.

[battousai16]

"Not sure if you live the US but I know you have to watch where you put them because many places wont hire you if the tattoo shows. now if you get away with covering it and you have been working at the place for a decent amount of time then decide to bust out the artwork then they cant do nothing. just get it where you want, but watch out on what career your heading into.."

 

last i heard that only applies to teaching/daycare positions, and even that's pretty loose. you probably wont get to far as a politician, either. i could be wrong, though.

[tokeabowl]

maybe in for some hardcore martial arts.

[aefibird]

It's not a requirement as far as I know to have your martial art tattooed on you, but I've got it anyway!!

 

I have the Japanese symbols for Shotokan Karate tattoed on my upper am. I have several tattoos, but they all have had to be in places I can cover over easily because I work with children and it is one of the requirements of my job that all tattoos must be covered (even though the area I live in is so rough that the kids I work with will have all seen far worse things than a teacher with tattoos...).

[Jussi Häkkinen]

Heh...well, I tend to laugh at people who use foreign symbols as tattoos. Think about it - how would you react if a japanese person would have a text "school of waving pines" written in clear English on his body?

 

Well, anyone who can read Japanese will react similarly when they see the "shotokan" text in Japanese as a tattoo.

 

Overall, I'm having fun when looking all the people following the current body mutilation (tattoos, piercings) trend. Wouldn't take tattoo for any reason - and if there would be any reason, I wouldn't tattoo my hobby to my body. Hobbies may change or they may stay - I don't use martial arts T-shirts, badges or anything else outside the dojo...nor I print it to my body.

[tommarker]

I know a fair amount of people who have some sort of Tang Soo Do related tattoo on their bodies. I think at a certain point, a lot of people think how it might be a good idea... and then talk themselves out of it.

 

I have no problems with what people want to do with their bodies, but it's not my bag. I've never seen someone tattoo it on the inside of their wrist though! Mostly it's a bicep, chest, back thing.

 

As for the use of chinese characters... No different aesthetically than using initials, which is just as popular. As long as you know what it means and aren't going with "pretty looking" as you see with devangari and sanskrit... then I can't question your intelligence.

[aefibird]

I didn't get my shotokan karate tattoo to flash about to all and sundry, I got it as a permanent reminder that karate is a life-long pursuit. To me, karate is something that should be studied for many years, not something to be picked up and dropped at will. The only person who sees my tattoo is myself, so its unlikely that a passing Japanese person will think I'm odd for having 'hall of waving pines karate' tattooed on my arm (the passing Japanese person would probably think I'm odd anyway, but that's beside the point... ) I wasn't jumping on any sort of band wagon either when I got a tattoo using Japanese characters - my name isn't David Beckham! I got the tattoo done in Japanese because shotokan is originally a Japanese martial art.

 

I agree that a lot of people wouldn't get tattoos, especially not one of something considered to be a 'hobby', so that is one of the reasons I keep mine covered at all times, out of respect for those who don't like tattoos and don't wish to be shown them.

[Jussi Häkkinen]

I got it as a permanent reminder that karate is a life-long pursuit.

 

I think that you should read this: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/mu/lifetime/index.html

 

Rob, again, hits the nail with that text. Read it, swallow the recoil it will cause in you, and read it again.

[theswarm]

i prefer pictures to words in tattoos

 

that being said i'm getting the word 'spirit' on my right shoulder muscle

 

I have a tattoo on my calf of two fists breaking their rope bindings

 

whoever said don't show your tattoos, I believe, is right - even if you work somewhere where there's room for promotion you don't wanna show it, it WILL slow you down. I like having tats that no one knows about till i crank out some shorts and a wifebeater.

[1ONEfighting]

I've got a few large tattoos, but none of them are directly related to the martial arts. One is a large piece that crawls halfway up my neck. It just looks intimidating sticking out of my gi.

 

As far as getting asian script detailing your art of choice, be careful. You don't want to get the tattoo and find out upon further inspection that it really means "sucker" or "dummy".