The history of Japanese body suit tattooing is a fascinating one that encompasses much more that just the application of inks to skin. An understanding of the subject requires knowledge of the social and political forces at work from prehistoric times to the present day. This book traces the development of those forces, their role in the growth of the military government and its efforts to control a people often less than willing to be controlled. With reference to the Edo period (1600-1867), urbanisation and the growth of Edo (modern Tokyo), the background to tattooing is carefully explained. The yakuza (Japanese mafia), their forebears and their attitudes to life, crime and tattooing are explored in great depth. The technical aspects of tattooing are similarly detailed and Horikazu, a modern practitioner of this traditional craft, is profiled. The authors visited Japan at the invitation of one of Tokyo's yakuza gangs, where they also interviewed other tattoo artists and conducted research, and they have produced a book that will doubtless serve its field as an outstanding reference resource for a generation. Tattooing is again fashionable. The authors hope this book contributes to calls for some tattoo practices to be elevated to the realm of art, of which the Japanese body suit must be the supreme example. The authors visited Japan to complete their research by interviewing the bosses of two Asakusa gangs, the tattooist Horikazu as well as other tattoo artists and tattoo specialists. They accessed documents hitherto unpublished in a European Language and returned with much exclusive illustrative material. Book jacket.