The reading that I’m going to speak about is the tattooer; this short reading was filled with passion, well, one can say that there isn’t passion but I feel that there was. Some of this passion was seen in Seikichi’s insatiable desire to be put in situations where he can delve into his sadistic interest, more importantly his passion was seen in the art work that he did on his clients.
Seikichi enjoyed the work in the line of tattooing for a specific reason, this reason is because he had the opportunity to watch others shrivel in pain; Seikichi was passionate about this part of his work, so passionate, there was a scene he was seen putting more pressure or shading in the tattoo just to make sure he evoked the emotion out of his clients that got his clock ticking. LOL, I did find this creepy but he is waking up every morning and doing what he loves to do; he is a true Sadistic bastard.
The passion that was immense was exemplified in his art work, I understand because I have a tattoo my self and before I got that tattoo I made sure that it was a piece of work that meant something to me; I made sure that it invigorated my soul and once I had something on my heart that did that I went to get my skin worked on./// The reason why I’m focusing on this aspect is because in the last scene he tells the girl that he has put his soul into her and that made me re read and gain understanding. I believe what he meant was this tattoo is something I’ve been thinking about and it truly means something to me, more importantly; he makes a statement about the tattoo (which is a black widow) “that now all men will be her victim.” this is important. In the times that Seikichi was around there was nothing new about geishas, however, it is said that they hold disease etc.and the black widow was known to kill or cause harm to its victim after mating, basically that means that the geisha or whore can do the same thing to her mate through venereal disease. So, besides the symbolism in the tattoo regarding the womens employment, there is also a metaphor to Seikichi’s statement, he said that he poured out his soul. His soul is tainted due to the lifestyle he lived. He lived in the middle of the city where the rich spent money, seeked geishas and enjoyed themselves, this lifestyle was said to leave to moral corruption, could Seikichi’s soul be corrupted due to his surrounding? Furthermore, he practices harming those who he gets in contact with for his own benefit, the same way a black widow would do its mate. There is a parallel between all 3 and that parallel can be seen as sadism.
-Fabian Varcianna
It is an interesting idea that the geisha or whore can do the same thing to her mate through venereal disease. I think it is reasonable. Another idea in my mind is that Seikichi fell in love with the lady. Love makes him to be her first victim. However, I still feel curious on the meaning of black spider in the Japanese culture. Although the young woman is a geisha, in Japanese culture, is a professional hostess and entertainer, they still have some differences with whore in the western culture. Is there a connection between geisha and black widows spiders?
Furthermore, I feel the tattooer in the story is really weird or abnormal because his happiness can be based on other people’s pain. I cannot understand. It is also the reason why this story is so special. If an artist who does some painting or drawing of a beautiful young woman, it is nothing special. However, it is a tattooer who is drawing on his lover’s body with pain. Is the artists of tattooer special in Japanese culture?
I also think that the characteristics of Seikichi are so weird because the reason he works on tattoos is the pleasure from the pain of customers. This is secret pleasure for himself. “passionate love”( Tanizak 81) shows the protagonist’s love for the lady, that why he really wants to make tattoos for this lady. “To make you truly beautiful I have poured my soul into these tattoos.” ( Tanizak 83) This shows exactly the importance about the lady’s tattoo for Seikichi, otherwise, he will not pour his soul into this tattoos. All this shows the love for the lady and the reason he becomes the first victim of the lady. I am curious that why the lady fears so scares about the painting and tattoos, and then becomes so interesting about her tattoos and happy?
Actually, when I read this story I felt horrible. The young tattoo artist Seikichi’s strange thoughts about tattoo. First of all, I think tattoo is an art. People who want tattoo may think it’s beautiful or it has important meanings to them. Nowadays almost everyone can have tattoo if they want. After I read this story, this story changes my mind a lot. For example, when Seikichi made spider tattoo on the girl’s body, he felt happy and satisfied with his work. However, he did not care the girl’s feelings. It showed that Seikichi was so demanding and controlling his clients. I think the author tried to expose the social problems through this main character. The reason Seikichi did these abnormal actions to his client, I think it maybe he was treated by society in this cruel way.