‘Completely different from tattoos’: how body art indigenous to Okinawa, Japan, is being revived for a new generation as a way to ‘retain the culture’
- Hajichi, hand-poked markings worn by women, is a traditional part of Ryukyu culture once banned in Japan; the practice had all but disappeared until recently
- Now tattoo artist Moeko Heshiki is reviving the body art, inking those with Okinawan roots but conscious of the need to avoid it being reduced to a fad
.png?itok=arIb17P0)
Moeko Heshiki is no ordinary tattoo artist: she is one of the few people keeping the once-banned tradition of hajichi body art alive for the indigenous Ryukyu people of Japan’s Okinawa region.
The traditionally hand-poked markings were once common on women of the Ryukyu, who lived throughout the southern islands of what is now Japan.
The monochrome patterns, ranging from delicate arrow-like symbols to arrays of large dots, marked important moments in a woman’s life and, in some cases, were believed to ensure passage to heaven.
In mainland Japan, tattoos were associated with illegal behaviour, because criminals were sometimes tattooed by authorities to mark them out.
“Those with hajichi were fined and discriminated against,” says 30-year-old Heshiki in Naha, Okinawa’s main city.
Why tattoos are still frowned upon in East Asia
“[The body art] was degraded as tattoos, rather than understood as hajichi.”
A ban on the markings was lifted after World War II, but the practice did not resume, and as women with hajichi died, the culture seemed destined to die out.
Heshiki, born to a father from Okinawa and a mother from Japan’s main island, Honshu, stumbled across hajichi while researching possible tattoos.
“I was dying to have them on me,” she says. After a tattooist specialising in tribal work inked her, she felt “more connected to myself, or to Okinawa”.
“I felt I had finally become my true self.”
She wears hajichi shaped like arrows on the tops of all her fingers, dots and geometric patterns on the backs of her hands and larger versions around her wrists.
Okinawa: where arts, culture and tradition come alive
While tattoos are still often frowned upon in Japanese society, younger generations are increasingly open to body art.
But Heshiki thinks hajichi should not become just another fad.
‘I practised on oranges’: how Hong Kong tattoo shop owner inked his own path
She offers traditional patterns to those with roots in Okinawa, and takes time to discuss the markings and meanings with clients beforehand, researching designs in books about the art.
One of the best-known documenters of hajichi is Hiroaki Yamashiro, who photographed dozens of elderly women with the body art from 1970 onwards.
“She had hajichi, and a very graceful look,” he says.
He photographed around 30 women with hajichi until 1990, including a 107-year-old who still remembered the pain of having the markings done.
Ishigaki island: eight places to find true tastes of Japan
Yamashiro welcomes the revival of hajichi but believes it should not be reduced to a mere fashion statement.
“This is a culture only practised by Ryukyu women, it’s something completely different from tattoos.”
He hopes younger generations will be “even more proud” of being Okinawan, and “retain the Okinawan culture, way of thinking and identity”.
