Tattos among samurai?

[Brian]

Good point, my appearance wouldn't even raise an eyebrow in an urban area.

[safetyturtle]

Now I know I'm not in the SCA, but it wouldn't bother me at least...from pictures and video's I've seen af the SCA theres alot of other things that would be immersion breaking.
Then again, I come from a country where heavily modified people isn't that rare, so maybe I'm a bit biased ^^

Interesting facts about tattoos in japan though.
Also, I saw a program about tattoo's in general where they talked to a CEO of a big company in japan who was tattooed from head to toe, but he wore a form of makeup daily to cover it up...quite interesting.

[yumehime]

there are layers to every story.

many samurai did not start that way, but climbed ranks. that means at least some of them may have had tattoos that were not necessarily included in history because they were embarrassing, not that they were not there.

there is also slumming, where a noble may well act badly in the guise of a lower class person and may NOT mention their rank when they got caught to spare family embarrassment, so even reserved for criminals, i would not rule out tattoo on people of rank.

with personas, there is often wriggle room if you look at possibilities based on thing know.

for example, i am french, but joined a viking running from a witch hunt back home, then our party got lost in Asia. we can document that Mongolians took recruits where they could and that vikings got to Asia on their own, so Europeans who are not know to trade directly with japan are not impossible, just uncommon.

since the persona represents a person who could have existed, not a person who did exist, there is only so far that you can make one purely historically documented from the start.

[dianetwrite]

This is a fantastic Thread!

As I am heavily covered with tattoos, I find myself wondering how to explain them in a manner that is fitting for my persona. Most of mine are Japanese in nature, but there are a couple that would raise eyebrows. Fortunately, My persona would be wearing long hems or Hakama and long sleeves.

However, following along the lines of this discussion. Are piercings period in our timeline in Japan?

[AJBryant]

No.