Kanji Tattoos

The Japanese language characters as tattoo designs are called Kanji tattoos. These characters, unlike in the English language do not represent a single letter of the alphabet but rather, they represent whole objects and complete ideas. They are pictographic characters, some of which have more than 30 different strokes in them! It is easy to express complex thoughts with just a few characters in these languages.

The written Japanese language has of two types of written characters in use today. They are the Kana and the Kanji characters. Kanji is the name given to those characters that have evolved from written Chinese. In fact, all of written Japanese is said to have evolved from the Chinese language, but over the years they have also come to develop some characters of their own to accommodate those sounds unique to their spoken language.

Since most of the characters are similar in these two languages, one shouldn’t assume that they also mean the same. Many characters mean the same, however there are usually pronounced differently in these languages. Many characters although they look the same, can mean completely different things in the two languages. And of course there are those characters that are unique to the Japanese.

Given the complexity of these languages and their similarity, it is easy for one (not fluent in those languages) to get them mixed up or wrong. So, if you’re planning on getting a Kanji tattoo it’ll do you good to find a tattoo artist who is fluent in the language, and who is also able to understand you well. Very often kanji tattoos end up not meaning what the wearer thinks it does! If you are a native English speaker, remember that it is quite difficult to literally translate English expressions into Kanji. What sounds very good in English may make no sense at all when translated to Kanji.

There have also been instances when the characters were split into meaningless halves, written in reverse like in a mirror image, written with some strokes missing (again becoming meaningless or meaning something else) or mistakenly joined to form a single character which can be thoroughly absurd in the Japanese language. Make sure you do your research well before you have the characters inked permanently.

Tattoo Health Risks

Today’s advancement in technology and awareness has paved the way for such things as FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulations even for Tattoos. Although the inks used for tattoos are subject to FDA approval, the FDA however does not regulate their use, the pigments in them or even the actual process of tattooing. Instead they are controlled by local laws.

Now, with the sharp rise in tattoo popularity, the FDA has been started taking a closer look at the health and safety associated with it. Some of the main issues being considered are: infections resulting from tattoos, the effect of tattoo colors in the body and the tattoo removal procedure.

One major health hazard associated with tattoos is that of infections. Using equipment that is not properly sterilized can lead to the transmission of infectious diseases such as hepatitis. Even if the needles used are new or clean, it is important that the equipment holding needle is also sterilized properly – that is sometimes a challenge due to its design. In addition, the tattooed area must be given proper care for the first week or so after the pigments have been injected in order to avoid infections.

Another problem associated with tattoos is allergic reaction to the pigment. Although this is rare, it can cause severe discomfort and when it does occur. It can be especially troublesome as the pigments are hard to remove. Sometimes people develop allergic reactions even to tattoos they have had for a long time!

Some may even develop Granulomas around the tattooed area. Granuloma is a term used for a mass of immune cells that develops when the body’s immune system tries to wall off something foreign that it is unable to eliminate. It is a special type of inflammation that can occur in a wide variety of diseases.

There have been reports of people with tattoos also having complications with MRI scans (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). The pigments used in tattoos are said to interfere with the quality of the image produced and some even reported swelling or burning in the tattooed area when they underwent an MRI scan.

One of the problems associated with tattoo removal is that complete removal of the tattoo without scarring the tissue may be impossible, despite technological advancements in laser tattoo removal. Also, it is reported that keloids (scars that grow beyond normal boundaries) occur more frequently as a result of the tattoo removal process.