Tattoos and Consciousness
On the bi-polar structure of iki aesthetics.
Japanese tattoos are an expression of the cultural consciousness of the Edo period. Intrinsic to the Edo period is the aesthetic philosophy of iki, defined by Shozo as a ethnic mode of consciousness unique to the Japanese people. The aesthetic of iki resists all attempts to define it. Although it can be discussed philosophically, iki rightly belongs to the realm of subjective experience that I would describe as a state of consciousness. In order to understand tattoos, we have to understand them as a realization of iki, and thus as a state of consciousness. While difficult to conceptualize, the immediacy of this truth becomes clear only through the experience of being tattooed in the traditional manner.
If we realize tattooing as a state of consciousness (or mode of being), then it no longer exists purely in the realm of the visible or even in the objective realm at all. The fact that this is true even while tattoos adorn the physical body is among the playful paradoxes that are intrinsic to this state of consciousness. Although I am not Japanese and have no direct experience of Japanese culture, I believe that the state of iki can be understood (to some degree) in universal terms. In particular, I propose that iki is distinctly and thoroughly Japanese and a state of consciousness that transcends the limits of culture and time.
The felt sense of opposition is fundamental to the state of iki. Opposites in play is the nature of harmony and tension. In becoming conscious of natural oppositions, we become conscious of natural form and its mysterious dynamic. Harmony and tension are both born from the root of opposites. The tension between opposites engenders the spark of transformation. The harmony between opposites is the temporary union of forms. In some sense, iki is the awareness of the constant within change as well as the fact that change itself appears to be the only constant.
Tattoos are a celebration of this understanding, carved on the foundation of the artistic tradition of woodblock prints. If tattoos are a state of consciousness, then they transcend the sense of effort and goal. The reality of being tattooed is more like a dream, a visceral vision of familiar forms floating in the endless. Hand-carved tattoos seem to have no end with the conclusion of the experience being in some sense its very antithesis. In this way, Japanese tattoos embody the early Daoist concept of “wu-wei”, often translation as “non-action”, but more accurately “acting without acting”.
Tattoos are part of life yet they exist outside of life as a state of consciousness, just as the dreams of night remain otherworldly in comparison to waking consciousness. Therefore, the state of consciousness becomes the context of existence. The process of being tattooed becomes something like a dream because it has a visible expression while existing outside of the usual context of consciousness.
Japanese tattoos require time and therefore become a recurring aspect of life for those who choose it. Rather than getting tattooed sporadically, I prefer to establish a pattern of frequency that becomes a rhythm. In this rhythm, my life starts to unfold in a wider context, the context that tattooing provides. Life is seen in cycles between tattooing. Thus, the ritualization of tattoos creates a perspectival shift that has no analog. In social terms, this can be seen in the way tattoos are associated with the “underground”, a context removed from daily life. But this association is largely political in nature and misses the deeper meaning of tattoos as a process that includes culture but also transcends it.
Tattooing ultimately points back to itself. It is something done for its own sake and its meaning is simply its own existence. Tattoing re-defines the nature of time. For one, hand-carved tattoos take significantly longer, evidence that it is conceived entirely beyond modern ideas of “progress”. Experientially, tattooing has no true end. I have sometimes thought that I will complete my bodysuit––if I live long enough! At the same time, to receive Japanese tattoos is to experience a culture and tradition, from another time and place. Traditional Japanese tattoos champion tradition amidst modernity. The experience is nearly anachronistic––an analog sensation in an electric world, the past in the present.
Tattoing in this manner has a real function in culture and society. Tattoos can be viewed as an “excess” in the sense of being unnecessary but desired by some. Tattoos belong to the sacred, not the mundane. Tattooing is ideally a place set-apart from the world, from all the familiarities of life. Thus, tattooing becomes a sacred ritual, a refuge from the world, a palace of toil.
REFERENCE
1. The Structure of Detachment: The Aesthetic Vision of Kuki Shūzō