Lance

She doesn't have too many pics, but there are pics of her with Horiyoshi 3, Ed Hardy and a handful of back shots which are AMAZING. The level of detail and the colors of her tattoos are just fantastic!

Found some pics of the book (love the Internet!):

That's a great book which shows progression from a sketch on her back to finished piece. I also like it because as far as I know, it's the only publication outside of Bushido that shows Taki's backpiece, albeit still in-progress. Even better since I added it to my library via the clearance section of Kinokuniya bookstore (suckers!) ;-)

On that note @beez, and anyone else visiting, you should check out that bookstore in Japan Town (SF not SJ's store). It's tattoo section is much better than Seattle's Kinokuniya. Also not really my thing these days, but if anyone is an anime/manga fan you'll drop dead of a heart attack.

Ha ha @beez! Actually, I just bought the book because of the photos of her tattoos. I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. It's in my "to read" stack. Sad right? Absolutely. But I've heard it's good unless you're a yakuza-phile. It's about her life not details into yakuza underworld. So I've also heard wannabe yakuza romanticists are disappointed.

You're in good hands with Junii so you're doing it right!

I love this tattoo, and it is one of the first large Japanese tattoos I was ever exposed to, and I would like to know who did it!

The woman is Shoko Tendo, a woman who wrote a memoir about being a yakuza boss's daughter. I have not read her book (I was searching for more info about the tattoo when I found her name and stuff), where perhaps she reveals this information, and I have only done a very cursory search and comparison of signatures to tattoo artists I already know.

So with that all said: does anyone have any info? Drop some knowledge on me!

I've got that book, Yakuza Moon, lying around somewhere. I believe the artist is Horiedo. I'm not too sure of the spelling though. Her tattoos are pretty awesome. Have you ever seen photos of Junii's suit from Horitoshi? Woah! That one 's a jaw dropper too. But I'm sure you get to see her arms when you're at the shop so I'm guessing you already know that :-)

Is that on Saturday? If so, I'll say hi!

@beez, ditto! Love the peonies too. Snakes with that will be damn spiffy.

I'll be there on Saturday for sure, having the last session done on my back.

Oh congratulations on that! I am for sure swinging by to see that piece after not being able to see it at JANM.

Man @ironchef, that is coming along fabulous. Thanks for sharing. Also 6 hours? Oof! Yeah bet you were worn out after that.

Jeff Gogue just posted the Back Piece hes been getting from Shige over the past 3 years on facebook....Wow!!

This is absolutely amazing!

Sadly to be a downer, and I know the subjects been talked about already elsewhere, but this piece has already been copied by someone else and can be found on Instagram if you search #Shige. Not inspired by, but straight up copied by the person's own admission. I refuse to link it. A sad state for a custom piece designed for a specific person :-(

At least Gogue's is the original and everyone knows it.

Btw, is anyone besides me going to the Shige Seminar? On Saturday?

My wife and I will be in and out of the convention all weekend. We would be down to meet up whenever. Unfortunately, we will not be getting tattooed. My wife had an appointment with @Valerie Vargas but had to cancel because she is pregnant. (A very positive thing coupled with a bit of disappoint in not being able to get tattooed.) Anyways, I look forward to meeting everyone.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! That's awesome news.

I can't help but wonder however, about the masses who tried to scramble into that vacated slot. I'm surprised you didn't step in to keep it in the family. ha ha. Wait, has it been filled yet?

ha love it If its like last year I will be the only guy with sneakers and gym shorts and no visible tattoos checking out everyone elses tattoos but probably not asking about them

also what time does convention start on Friday?

Looks like it starts at 5pm and runs till 11pm on Friday. Bummer for me, since I'll have to run for the BART by 6 or 7 to see previous said friends in SF. Hmmm, friends vs. tattoo convention. Decisions, decisions...

It runs 11am-11pm Saturday and 11am-6pm Sunday.

Yes, let's try to meet at the convention. I'd be more than happy to since I'll be missing the pre-party. I'll probably dive into the city Friday to see some old friends at some point, but I'm staying at the Hyatt all weekend.

Horrible description, but I'll be an Asian guy with long hair, glasses, black & grey Japanese sleeves, probably wearing black or some shade of grey, trying to be discreet about staring at everyone's tattoos but too shy to approach you and ask ;-)

Anyway if you see me before the meet, just come up and say Hi!

Eh. I have dragon heads on both knees and a dragon on my left forearm. I have a snake on my elbow/right forearm, a massive snake on my back, and a snake (with a hot stuff head) on my shin. Four girl heads so far, three spiders, four birds, three skulls, four hearts, and countless flowers. I'm probably missing a few in the previous counts, but you see what I'm getting at. There will be nothing remotely bummer about a huge tiger from Bryan Burk. Nothing.

You should get a kitchen sink tattoo as well in one of your filler spaces ;-)

One time I tipped Hector Fong in dried squid. True story.

And some cash too.

Dried squid, that's some good shit. From the asian markets. Nosh on that and some cold beer. Yeah, that's gooood.

@<a href="http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/member.php?u=4088" target="_blank">beez</a> , pimpin out the Dicks.

Have fun at the convention!

I never indulge people who want to see them if it means I have to bare part of my body that is normally covered up.

True that part, but I especially hate it when people actually try to pull up my shirt to see my back or pull it up to show someone else my tattoos. Sometimes, I'm not even part of the group conversation when someone's tried to lift up my shirt. Then they get pissed off at me when I whirl around glaring. WTF!

[ATTACH]9542[/ATTACH][ATTACH]9543[/ATTACH][ATTACH]9544[/ATTACH][ATTACH]9545[/ATTACH]

Bad iPhone pics taken during session, first session, loving it! Kim Saigh, Memoir.

Ooooo, that's going to be nice. I like how the crescent sits and caps the shoulder.

The good news is that the healing seems to be going really well. Two long 11 hour shifts at work with the constriction of a shoe. The swelling is going down after three days. I have the additional worry as I have type two diabetes, but what the heck.

Good luck with your appointment. I just love those Horitomo cats.

Thanks for the info! Good to hear. I don't yet have a scheduled appointment with him. I'm on his list and I've seen a sketch, but I'll be patient and wait my turn. It'll all be worth it. The good side of it is the longer the wait, the more I'll be able to save up for future work

@jade1955, I love that one. He and Bryan Burk both have their own style of girl heads.

The foot is...special, isn't it?

You're not wrong. Haha.

Grrrrroooaaan...

What exactly do you mean by "special" and "not wrong"?! I'm planning my next tattoos to be on both my feet. You two scare me given all the tattoo experiences you've had. Mind you absolutely wonderful ones at that!

Knock on wood, I'm hoping for Horitomo cats. Just praying, sacrificing the neighbor's goats, reading some KFC chicken bone messages and sorta patiently waiting for that special phone call asking when I'd be able to set up an appointment. Fingers crossed.

Hey all! Just announced on the Convention's FB. Shige's Seminar reservations are now available for purchase. I believe it goes from 10am till 11:30, with only 100 seats available each day on Saturday or Sunday. 99 on Saturday, since I already booked in on that ;-)

Not to be missed!

https://www.eventbrite.com/event/8220639153

@Kahlan

Everyone, please correct me if you feel differently or have alternatives. For the short duration I lived there I felt any shop mentioned in SF is accessible. The city is pretty much 7 miles x 7 miles. I pretty much walked the span once or twice running errands. But if you're more sane, cabbing or bussing it anywhere is easy. State of Grace in SJ, is about an hour drive from SF. Typically I've driven but I guess you could take the train down too. Temple in Oakland should be an easy and quick BART trip over I believe. Spider Murphy's in San Raphael too should also be accessible but via ferry then bus I think. I'm not sure how long that takes though.

Hope this helps a wee bit.

Hate the Brand, Love the Man: Why Ed Hardy Matters |

Here's Margot Mifflin's review of his memoir from the Los Angeles Review of Books. It's well worth the read.

Yeah, this reminded me of a time I had a conversation with a friend's friend. I think she asked me about my tattoos initially and it somehow segued to Hardy. At that point she spewed some trash about Ed Hardy thinking of the clothing. I responded by trying to inform her that he's actually a great artist, a legend in the tattoo world, and a great influence on people despite what feelings there are towards the clothing design. Also that it was Audigier who she should probably be disgusted with. In her elitist arrogance, her look at me turned to disgust and saw me as a huge douche for even trying to say anything positive about the name "Ed Hardy".

That pretty much ended the conversation and we happily went our separate ways. I might not necessarily be a fan of the stereotypes wearing the clothes but I'm far less interested in the people too elitist to have an open mind and who trash others they know nothing about.

I am stoked for this. In the meantime, any L.A. folks planning to go to this on Oct. 3?

https://www.facebook.com/irezumiartshow

I agree. Saw this and was really excited about it. Then I realized I can't make it the opening night at least. Pretty bummed. Please update me later if you go.

I was just at JANM, where they were photographing some Chris Brand back pieces. Everyone should get excited about this come next Spring. Plan your vacations and book your tickets now if you live outside of LA. This is going to be cool.

Oof! I'm not till 5:10 in the afternoon unfortunately.