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chaos-mizer · 28 days ago

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Character Design: Part 3

TATTOO

Moving to his tattoo, most of the information related to Buddhism is a copy paste of this tumblr post, alongside other elements, which if I hadn’t read I wouldn’t have noticed these things because I’m not familiar with it at all, but I added a few things:

The tattoo covering most of his body is a tribal style tattoo, with thick lines that flow with the anatomy of the body. Truth is that for a long time I thought that this tattoo was somewhat of a filler, I was trying to see what else here was relevant, and it wasn’t until I saw this picture of the tattoo spread out that it clicked.

At first, and honestly now too, I thought that maybe it was kind of a stretch (it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t doubt everything I do or think all the time huh), but I can’t unsee it now. This part of the tattoo is made to look like a bird, or parts of one. The symmetrical spread out looks like a bird with its wings open, the beak on top and its tail following the length of his arm. Other parts of the tattoo follow the flow of the feathers, the side profile of birds, even the one on his legs looks like two wings wrapping it, more obvious when looking at it from behind. With a quick search you find very simple examples that already resemble these shapes.

Recently imadhatt3r read the essay and suggested that the shapes on his chest reminded her to the Japanese phoenix Hou-ou, Hōō, or similar variations (ほうおう). It has its origin in China, called Feng Huang (鳳凰), where it was adopted as one of the symbols of the imperial household, particularly the empress, with the mythical bird representing fire, the sun, justice, obedience, fidelity and the southern star constellations. According to the legend, the Hou-ou appears on very specific occasions, the beginning of a new era, like the birth of a virtuous ruler.

In other traditions it appears only in peaceful and prosperous times, and it's said they nest in paulownia trees, hiding when there’s trouble. It's a symbol of peace when appearing, and disharmony when disappearing. In China the phoenix (female) is intimately associated with the Dragon (male), they’re either mortal enemies, or blissful lovers (while the phoenix represents fire, the dragon represents water, and would also be representative of the emperor instead). Males would be denominated Feng, and females Huang. This phoenix is the ruler of all birds, and it’s a mix of different species, including non-bird animals. They all would color the phoenix with the five colors of the Chinese elements: white, black, red, yellow and blue. I’ve read they have five distinct feathers on its tail, on other sites I've read twelve, like the twelve months.

Apparently, while it used to be represented next to paulownia trees and bamboo, it was gradually replaced with peonies, cherry blossoms, chrysanthemums and seasonal Japanese wild flowers.

The sparrow/bird motif couldn’t be more obvious and recurrent in his character, it’s in his kimono, in his name, his AllMate, in his back tattoo. It’s no surprise that they played with this idea here as well. Birds in general are seen as symbols of freedom, being able to fly wherever they want. Koujaku was basically born a slave, and from day one he has sought and fought for his and his mother’s freedom, desperate, and being punished for it. The day this tattoo was completed, he would never be free again. How ironic, isn’t it?

Even these designs hold a resemblance too to these birds. And the design of Koujaku on the right compared to Beni.

The symbol inside the circle on his shoulder and knee is the seed syllable of the sanskrit alphabet “a” (अ). In Buddhism “a” is the seed syllable for the mantras associated with Vairochana Buddha, one of the Five Great Buddhas. He is represented in the center of the mandala and with color white, he is considered the personification of the Dharmakaya (cosmic body of Buddha, the everything, the complete wisdom, enlightenment and universal compassion), he is the supreme and primordial Buddha. Dharma cannot be translated into a single word, but it is understood that it refers to behaviors and actions that are in harmony with the laws of life, the cosmos, virtues or religious moral duties, and are the teachings of Buddha.

The Wisdom associated with “a” is that which can create or deny, and if it’s added as a prefix it makes the word have the opposite meaning. For example, when adding “a” to “moral”, it creates “amoral” which is the opposite. Vidya means wisdom, avidya is ignorance.

The Buddha Vairochana appears in the Brahmajala Sutra, or the Brahma Net Sutra:

Now, I, Vairochana Buddha am sitting atop a lotus pedestal;

On a thousand flowers surrounding me are a thousand Shakyamuni Buddhas.

Each flower supports a hundred million worlds; in each world a Shakyamuni Buddha appears.

All are seated beneath a Bodhi-tree, all simultaneously attain Buddhahood.

All these innumerable Buddhas have Vairochana as their original body.

He is also mentioned in the Avatamsaka Sutra or Flower Garland Sutra, where the flower garland represents his many virtues or inspiring glory. The theme of the sutra is the interdependence of all things, “all in one, one in all… There are no divisions in the totality of reality… the universal Buddhahood of all reality”. According to this sutra, the entirety of the cosmos can be observed at any level within that cosmos.

In each dust-mote of these worlds

Are countless worlds and Buddhas…

From the tip of each hair of Buddha’s body

Are revealed the indescribable Pure Lands…

The indescribable infinite Lands

All ensemble in a hair’s tip [of Buddha].

Koujaku’s tattoo has two major connections to Vairochana: the garland of flowers, representative of his virtues, and the use of the Vairochana seed syllable “a”. We also have a symbolic introduction to hair, associated with Vairochana and Koujaku, to which we will return later.

These tattoos were not consensual, they were forced by Ryuuhou’s hand, so why did he choose these elements with such strong Buddhist symbolism?

SHISEI

Ryuuhou’s character is based on a story called “Shisei” or “Tattoo”, by Junichiro Tanizaki in 1910, charged with sadism, cruelty and dark, perversed erotism.

The story is about a tattoo artist named Seikichi, master of tebori, the traditional technique, who, like Ryuuhou, is psychologically disturbed and has a “secret pleasure, secret desire” to see men in agony when he buries his needles into them, and the more they suffer the more pleasurable it was for him. The story tells how he used to be an ukiyo painter, his social status fell and then he became a renowned tattoo artist, tattooing people’s bodies as if they were canvases.

He would even mock the men who screamed the loudest, calling them children, and when someone appeared who endured the pain of his needles, he would assure them that it would be impossible to continue enduring it, which to me it only implies that he would stick the needles in them as deep as possible to make them suffer.

But he was so obsessed with finding the perfect canvas, a woman on whom to tattoo his masterpiece, her own soul. He wanted to tattoo a woman who was not only beautiful on the outside but who also met his expectations with her personality. One day while walking, he thought he had found the perfect woman just by looking at her bare foot, saying to himself: “That foot will be feeding on the fresh blood of the men it will end up trampling on”.

But it would not be until the following year that Seikichi would meet that girl. After showing her some paintings that he believed reflected her, she gets scared and wants to leave, but Seikichi drugs her and puts her to sleep. He would not stop until he finished the tattoo, and he tells the girl that “There will be no woman more seductive than you. There will be no man who is not your victim”. And when she woke up, at the same time that she moved, so did the spider tattooed on her back.

The girl’s personality changed completely, and it is her, his masterpiece, who ends up killing the tattoo artist after fulfilling his last request of seeing her tattoo completed one last time, dying with a smile.

The references are more than obvious. Koujaku’s tattoo as his greatest work, tattooing his soul, his sadistic nature and the purposeful infliction of as much pain as possible during the tattoo sessions (not only it’s a slow and painful technique, but Ryuuhou also stuck the needles deeper than needed. Koujaku himself said that he spent months and months being tattooed, so it’s easy to assume that he purposely made it last longer), the moment of his death, Koujaku’s fainting and change of “personality”, the moment he meets him as a teenager. Not only that, but those references are repeated with Aoba too when he meets him and feels “love at first sight”, when Aoba returns to “his door”, drugs and kidnaps him with the intention of tattooing him.

And of course, there’s also this woman they met when they arrived at Platinum Jail, with a spider tattoo on her face and neck.

Ryuuhou is covered from head to toe, but we can still see a tattoo on his neck of a seahorse. It’s in plain sight and of course it draws attention. Seahorses are known for their unusual way of breeding: the males are the ones that get pregnant and give birth. If I’m not wrong seahorses in Japan are called something like the illegitimate child of the dragon or baby dragon. It could be a symbol of power, unshakable strength, abundance and good luck because of its connection to dragons, a fantastic animal that also appears on Ryuuhou’s kimono and name. But what interests us most is the connection of the seahorse with creation, as a symbol of fatherhood, its capacity of getting pregnant.

RYUUHOU, FORCE OF CREATION

Ryuuhou being tattooed with the image of a male creative force is not an accident. We hear him always talk about creation, about his “greatest work”. “I always knew I would die at the hands of my greatest creation”

Look at the last sentence and think about the recurring duality of creation and destruction. If Ryuuhou is shaped as a creative force, then there has to be a destructive force: Koujaku

The duality of Ryuuhou and Koujaku is told through the visual narration of red vs blue, recurring in many stories and with roots in the red and blue Oni trope, in which the two oni have opposite personalities and have a very different way of seeing the world, often provoking confrontation with one another. The red oni, Koujaku, is associated with passion, wildness and rebellion. A generally outgoing, enthusiastic, determined and lively character.

On the other hand, the blue oni is associated with serenity, control and vigilant authority, resonant with Ryuuhou. The way he presents himself, the way he speaks. Blue ones are more intellectual, proud, traditional, introverted and cultured, sometimes more spiritual. They are usually respected by others, but they often confuse or even intimidate others because they are difficult to read and have a mysterious aura. When there are elemental powers involved in this popular trope, the red oni will of course be associated with fire, and the blue one with water or ice.

Fire cleanses the soul and symbolizes rebirth. It has strong Buddhist connotations, and represents passion, intensity, desire. Water also has purifying properties, used to clean the hands and mouth at the entrance of shrines. It is a strong element that can erode rocks, and represents adaptability, change, perseverance. This is a detail that might not be very important, but I found it curious and why not add it. Note that the lowest point of Aoba and Koujaku’s relationship is marked by the arrival of scheduled rain, and then Ryuuhou coaxes Aoba under it. Seahorses and dragons live in water, and the latter also can control it. The rain comes symbolically, there’s no other reason for it to appear. They don’t use it to create a scene or situation in specific, if they got rid of it not much would change, as it relies on other topics. It’s a sign of the influence and power of Ryuuhou, they’re drenched with it.

#dmmd #koujaku #koujaku dmmd #dramatical murder #your mind is so beautiful wtf #ryuuhou

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