Building Jason’s Bodysuit
There are projects that come along every so often that remind you why you got into this work in the first place. Jason's bodysuit is one of those for me. Jason came to me already carrying some old 90’s tattoos and rather than covering everything outright, I worked around a lot of what was already there. Using the background to knit the old work into the new and freshening up the old sleeve tattoos so it all reads as one suit rather than a patchwork of decades. A couple of pieces did need full cover ups, but the goal throughout was always the same: make it look like this was the plan from day one, even when it wasn't.
The heart of the whole suit sits on the back: Shiragikumaru, the White Chrysanthemum Boy, taken from a specific Yoshitoshi print; "The Temple Page Shiragikumaru Wrestling a Green Demon," from his 1866 series Sagas of Beauty and Bravery (Biyū Suikoden). The original woodblock shows exactly what it says on the tin: a young man in a floral blue kimono locked in a wrestling hold with a green demon, caught mid-struggle. Shiragikumaru himself is a tragic figure out of Japanese legend; a beautiful boy serving as a page at a Buddhist temple, torn between the priest who loved him and the harassment of the other monks around him. In the old story he and the priest make a suicide pact at Enoshima, each keeping half of an incense box so they'll recognise one another in a future life. It's a story about devotion, tragedy and rebirth all at once, which is a lot of weight to hang on one image, but that's exactly why it works as the anchor for a piece like this.
For Jason's version I kept the drama of the original composition but chose red instead of green to add the the contrast, and to tie it visually into the other guardian figures scattered through the rest of the suit. The acolyte's blue kimono, with its hex-pattern fabric, became the single biggest colour anchor on the whole back, something bold enough to hold its own against a full body of surrounding florals and creatures. It's a scene full of movement and tension, the kind of image that holds a viewer's eye the way a good back piece should.
From there we built out across the shoulders, chest and arms. A tiger and a snake facing off down the front, waves and clouds carrying the background through the ribs and stomach, chrysanthemums and koi filling in the sleeves. One sleeve is mostly older work that predates our time together, and rather than replace it I built the surrounding pieces to sit alongside it, so it reads as part of the whole rather than something bolted on.
The legs carry the same story straight down without a break; the subject matter shifts a little, but it flows seamlessly out of everything above it rather than starting something new. The two calf pieces are the work of Manawa Tapu, Jason was generous enough to offer his skin to practice on while Manawa was apprenticing under me. They're a nice reminder that this suit isn't just my work, it's part of the wider story of the studio too.
This is what I love about full body work. It's not one tattoo, it's dozens of decisions made in service of a single vision, stretched out over years of sessions, trust, and patience on both sides. Jason committed to seeing this through, and it shows in the final result, a suit that flows, breathes and tells a story from the neck down.
If you've been thinking about starting a full bodysuit, or you've got existing tattoos you'd love to see woven into something bigger, you can book a consultation with me to have a chat about it. This kind of long-term project is exactly the work I want to be doing more of.
