Heretical beauty is engraved on the skin--Matsuda Osamu and the idea of tattoos (around 1970)

Heretical beauty is engraved on the skin--Matsuda Osamu and the idea of tattoos (around 1970)

Around 1970, in the shadow of glamorous growth, Japanese society was rapidly taming heresy and taboo. Tattoos were one such example. In the past, it was an aesthetic of self-denial and a symbol of anti-establishment, which sinners and gamblers risked their lives to have tattooed on their bodies. However, the times have changed it into a decoration, and it is now being consumed as a fashion trend.

The literary critic Osamu Matsuda was one of those who sharply resisted this trend. The heretical thinker who deciphered the world of Yukio Mishima and Tatsuhiko Shibuya said that the "omen of doom" of tattoos was their essence. He writes, "I despair of tattoos becoming a part of everyday life," and his writing reflects his anger at the transformation of heresy into a "safe guise" in modern times.

At the time, political dissident thought was flourishing in the form of Zenkyoto and revolutionary theory, but Matsuda distanced himself from this and plunged into the depths of the body and culture. His theory of tattooing as "cultural dissidence" was sharp, isolated, and filled with quiet despair.

In an age that has lost the beauty of heresy, only his words still tingle deep within our skin.