A few times a week or so, I’ll see posts on various Japanese language or tattoo subreddits asking about Japanese Kanji tattoos. The questions typically come from low level learners, or tattoo enthusiasts with minimal knowledge of Japanese.
I’ve personally got no problems with people getting whatever they want tattooed on their body, but it certainly helps to be informed before making that kind of investment.
I myself am a foreigner with kanji tattoos who lives and works in Japan. While this may not apply to most people browsing this sub, I just wanted to put in my quick opinion and a resource for those interested.
1.) Get an opinion from a native speaker
2.) Get opinions from at least two more native speakers.
3.) Get it done by a Japanese artist (if possible)
4.) Consider using actual culturally relevant source material rather than a “word salad” of disconnected kanji
5.) Get one more opinion from a native speaker
For source material, I’d recommend reading up on things such as Tanka Poems or Japanese proverbs known as “Kotowaza”
And lastly
6.) People will have opinions about your Kanji tattoo, no matter how much effort you put into planning it, just be prepared for that.
Feel free to upvote, downvote, send this to people who could use it, whatever you like. Mostly just wanted to chuck my 2 cents into the void.
2 comments
r/translator is full of them and some are so bad. Apparently there’s [this “guide”](https://www.reddit.com/r/translator/comments/ppsxr4/meta_a_new_reference_for_the_fake_chinese_tattoo) that’s basically a 1-to-1 table for alphabets and a bunch of random hanzi, and some people use that “guide” to spell out their name in hanzi to get a tattoo. Of course that’s not how it works, and the character given to each alphabet was probably chosen randomly, so it makes a totally gibberish string of kanji that makes no sense.
Beyond just dodgy meanings, people also should consider aesthetics. Most people outside Japan have no idea what “good kanji” looks like, and having a computer font on you is not the way – you wouldn’t get an English tattoo in Times New Roman, yeah? Handwriting in Japanese is a whole art form. I guess maybe people don’t care about what looks good to Japanese people … but I don’t really understand why you would want it in Japanese in the first place if you’re not also wanting a Japanese aesthetic.