Tattoo artist Horiyoshi III knew the prejudice he was facing when he decided to embark on a career as a tattoo artist. Unlike the popular adoption of tattoos in the West, most of Japan still views tattoos as a symbol of the yakuza criminal underworld, whose members bore the same full body “suit” tattoos that III himself creates.
But this negative interpretation of his art hasn’t stopped III from continuing to pursue what he loves. He says he gains great inspiration from Hokusai, an artist who is renowned for his woodblock prints of a Mount Fuji tsunami.
