Japanese Sleeve Tattoos

Japanese sleeve tattoos are truly stunning works of art, often containing such designs as dragons, flowers and plant life, fish, animals such as cats and of course the Japanese sword wielding samurai.

Enjoy these wonderful pictures of cool Japanese sleeve tattoo ideas below.

Flowers, clouds and flames design.

Bright and colorful idea with vegetation and sun beams.

Flowers and ocean waves idea.

Peacock and bengal tiger artwork.

Animal inspired with sea creature.

Cloud base with samurai and tiger.

Koi fish.

Sleeve Tattoos

Full sleeve tattoos start at the top of the shoulder and stretch down the entire arm to the wrist. And if you fully intend on getting a sleeve tattoo, its absolutely essential to pick out the right tattoo artist for the job, and the best way to evaluate an artist is to view his previous work, so don't be afraid to ask.

These sleeve designs below are some real top quality masterpieces, so perhaps you can gather some ideas within the artwork.

Alice in wonderland inspired artwork.

Dragon and flowers idea.

Classic sailor Jerry inspired art.

Asian themed idea.

Voodoo with witchdoctor.

Nintendo Mario with light cartoon flavor.

Retro with good look charms.

Half Sleeve Tattoos

Half sleeve tattoos generally start at the very top of the shoulder and run down below the bicep, often to the elbow. However some people refer to half sleeves as starting at the elbow and running down to the wrist. Then again, i suppose there is two halves to every arm, so both estimations would be correct.

This picture gallery showcases some very beautiful and quite colorful sleeve tattoos which are seen on men, but look just as amazing on women as well.

Colorful array of toys tattoo.

Koi fish and lotus flower idea.

Large cross with birds.

Halloween inspired design with smiling pumpkin.

Chinese dragon with dark cloudy background.

Superbly inked reptilian beast with fiery orb.

Forearm Tattoos For Women

Checkout this little picture gallery of excellent forearm tattoo ideas for women, consisting of some very well inked designs ranging in style from cupcakes to nautical stars, which are quite popular among men as well.

Unlike their male counterpart, its far less common to see women with sleeve tattoos, however its not complete rare either. Women tend to prefer a single tattoo design on the forearm area or perhaps a compilation of two pieces of art.

Nautical stars forearm tattoo.

Lovely sunflower idea for the ladies.

Tribal hooks and red roses.

Celtic inspired crown and heart idea.

Mix of tribal and single red star.

Script idea for girl or guys.

Delicious cupcake with tasty sprinkles on top...

from: Andi F.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 11:31 AM
subject: Kanji translations

Hey there! I totally LOVE your blog!

ok, so I have 2 different Kanji tattoos. I researched them myself, and was after the Japanese meanings of the characters. I didn't trust a tattoo shop book for either one. The fire/Ice tattoo is supposed to me "to be devoted". The kanji is composed out of the negative space. I was after a verb form, and I am most worried about this one.

Tell me I did it right!! Otherwise, back to the needle I go!

Thanks,

A

Granted this tattoo intended to be read from Japanese perspective, but 沒頭 literally means "no head" in Chinese, in other words "lack of common sense".

Alan has the following to add:

The tattoo is evidently 没頭る, which appears to be a "slangy" way of writing the Japanese verb "hamaru" which in itself is a slang way to say "be a fan of," "be absorbed in" or maybe "be devoted to" something like a rock band or a manga or some other pop culture phenomenon.

Originally, the verb hamaru was written 嵌る or 填る (or sometimes ハマる), but evidently due to the influence of the noun 没頭 [bottō], which means "devotion to" or "absorption in" something, people started writing the word like 没頭る but still pronouncing it hamaru. Perhaps one reason why people started writing the word with these new characters is because both of the old ones 嵌 and 填 were removed from common use in Japanese.

This use of different characters to write words is called 当て字 (ateji) in Japanese. These 当て字 can be used on a whim and there are no particular rules except what becomes popular.

Without common sense, indeed!

from: Sarah C.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 5:53 AM
subject: My husband's old tattoo!

I stumbled across your blog and have had a great time reading it!!

My husband is an unfortunate teenage tattoo victim. He very proudly displays this tattoo on his shoulder blade which he swears means "dragon". However I've looked up the character for dragon and it is nothing like his tattoo!

Does his tattoo have any meaning or is it an attack of gibberish?

Thank you!

Sarah

辰 represents the fifth zodiac year which happens to be "the year of dragon", not the actual dragon. However the tattooed character has an unnecessary extra bit at left upper corner.

Dragon is typically 龍 (or 龙) in Chinese, and 竜 in Japanese.

Forearm Sleeve Tattoos

Here we see a beautiful array of forearm sleeve tattoos, showcasing drastically different themed designs which will help you conjure up some ideas for your own personal sleeve tattoo.

Selecting each and every small detail that makes up a sleeve tattoo can be quite a prolonged experience, however it helps tremendously if you consult your tattoo artist beforehand, so he or she can help walk you through a list of ideas.

Demon warrior artwork.

Blue themed forearm design with many eyes.

John Mayer flower inspired artwork.

Large skull forearm idea.

Mechanical gears and chains inspiration.

David Beckham angel and clouds ink.

Beautiful Asian theme with tigers.