Omotesando, in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, is an iconic shopping street lined with international designer boutiques and a popular destination for fashionistas and tourists. In January 2022, the area saw the opening of Bizen Art Tattoo Studio, boasting a clean and open gallerylike space frequented by the likes of entertainers, artists, and athletes. Bara was still attending university when the president and tattooist, Bizen, took her under his wing. Let’s ask the apprentice about her experiences and values.
Bara traces her inspiration to become a tattooist back to middle school. She had been an avid swimmer for over ten years and made her way to the national championships. But swimming wasn’t her only motivation to compete.
“Naturally, swimming presents the opportunity to see other people’s bodies, and over time, I became intrigued by their skin, their muscles, and their physique in general. Everyone has habits in swimming form and in daily life, you see. Those habits cause wrinkles to form and muscles to grow bigger on one side than the other. I loved observing all these wonders of the human body.”
Bara gave up swimming after middle school and pursued her childhood interest in art in high school. She joined the ceramics club, and it was around the time that she discovered henna tattoos. Henna is a natural plant-derived substance used to paint the skin and leave a temporary tattoo that lasts for several weeks to a few months. Bara liked that both ceramics and henna tattoos were primitive art forms involving handwork, and that they have been linked closely with the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter throughout history.
Later, henna tattoos also helped to create the opportunity for Bara to meet her future master, Bizen. Instagram was rising in popularity, and Bara posted her works on her account.
“Her friends were also customers at the studio, so the chance to meet came around as a matter of course,” says Bizen. “In this world, you meet a lot of juvenile delinquents who want to make a fresh start as a tattooist. That’s the norm. But Bara went to a technical high school specializing in crafts, and graduated from an art university. She was groomed to be an artist from the start. The idea that a person of her upbringing wanted to become a tattooist was new and interesting to me. Her personality, her skills, everything about her clicked, and I invited her to come and join the team.”
As soon as they met, however, the world was struck by COVID-19.
“My classmates were starting their internships and job hunting activities. It was time for me to explore my career options too. But then I thought to myself, who knows when another pandemic might hit. Do I want to seek a stable job straight out of college? I decided not. Instead, I set my mind on following my heart and choosing the work I really want to do.”
It is now four years since Bara became an apprentice. Her duties currently involve assisting Bizen and the other senior tattooists, plus performing tattoos herself, though only for her friends. Has her experience thus far changed her impression of the tattooist’s job?
“It’s quite a sinful line of work. I mean, we take a rapidly oscillating needle and drive it in the skin, scarring it, making it bleed—the job comes with such a huge responsibility. At the same time, it presents the opportunity to actually see the body and touch the skin, like an extension of my fascination as a swimmer. Tattooing offers the privilege of working with a different body every time. In that sense, it has no limits. It’s a lifelong journey of learning.”
Bara goes on to describe what it feels like to mark the skin with a tattoo.
“During the process of tattooing, my mind is absolutely clear. I see only the area of the skin I’m working on at that moment, and think about nothing else. For me, it’s the feeling of being released into the vast expanse of the sea, and the instant the needle touches the skin, I take a deep dive and begin swimming toward my destination. I feel more comfortable under the water, I even breathe better, and the next thing I know I’ve arrived at an island, and only when I look back do I see how far I’ve come.”
She had an appointment on the day of this interview too, and I asked if I might watch her work for a while after our chat. Although I glimpsed only a small fraction of Bara’s work, it was easy to imagine from her expression and her poise that she took the equipment, the customer, and the skin very seriously, that she strove to break her personal record every day, and that she enjoyed every minute of it. Through the brief hour and a half of our interview, I understood why her master, Bizen, saw her potential and was drawn to her personality in their very first meeting.
In closing, I asked Bara if she had any goals.
“My immediate answer would be, I’d like to win the approval of my master. But if I were eventually allowed to make my professional debut, I don’t think I’ll be satisfied. Maybe I enjoy being in pain (laughs). I just hope to keep focusing even more attention on my tattoos and giving my all to each of my customers.”
And with that, Bara took another deep dive and went on her way swimming underwater.
