Tattooing in Japan - The Jōmon period

Long before Japan associated tattoos with crime or other denigrating stereotypes, they were possibly a part of everyday life during the Jōmon period (10,000 B.C. – 300 B.C.). Although the ancestral Ainu had made their way into Hokkaido between 30 and 60,000 years ago, migrations onto Honshu helped the Jōmon culture to flourish. Despite no clear evidence that supports it, Archaeologists have discovered dogū, humanoid clay figurines bearing distinct facial markings, theorized by some scholars to represent early forms of tattooing or scarification. While no written records confirm these markings as tattoos, ethnographic comparisons suggest the Jōmon people may have practiced permanent body modification. This era lays the speculative foundation for the long and complex evolution of horimono, wabori, shisei, gaman, irezumi, etc. — traditional Japanese tattoos.