Japanese dragon tattoos
Dragons are perhaps the most popular of all Japanese tattoo design.
The Japanese dragon is made up of seven different animals with different features from each animal.
A dragon should have 97 scales on its body.
- The body of a snake
- The scales of a Koi fish
- The antlers of a deer
- Paws from a tiger
- The talons {claw} of a hawk
- The head of a horse
- The ears of an ox
In Japanese tattooing the Dragon is often paired with a phoenix as they symbolise the opposing energy in the universe , in Chinese mythology a dragon will be paired with a Tiger and together they represent the Yin and the yang.
There are 5 Different types of dragons
Water dragons
The water dragon symbolises the Emperors rule over Japan
Four dragons control the 4 oceans over the world.
Dragons can control the elements like rain and wind.
Celestial dragon
Guardian of the Kamis {Japanese gods}
Treasure Dragon
defending dragons that guards precious stones
Imperial dragons
Symbol of the Chinese dynasty
Spiritual dragon
God of wind and rain.
How many claws does a dragon have ?
You can tell the origin of a dragon by the number of claws on its paws.
A Japanese dragon has 3 claws
A Korean dragon will have 4 claws and a Chinese dragon 5.