#i'll have to line the lesser leech tattoos as well as the kingscholar ones and make another post

[jhoudiey]

With yakuza comes tattoos, and with tattoos comes lore and meaning behind them.

The Draconia Sigil

Scarred into the center of all Draconia “family” members' chests. Before any business takes place all members must display their scar. Originally tattoos were given, and grandma Draconia is the last of the holdovers from those days, but they found that tattoos were too easy to cover. With a scar, even if they’re tattooed after the scar stands out against any other marking making it impossible to change allegiance after joining the family. The Draconia brand means service for life.

The symbol itself is a dragon that has it’s claws sunk into the sun as represented by a single unbroken circle. Of course, that ‘sun’ is taken from the flag of Japan symbolizing their control and reign over the entire country. The Draconia are not fond of sharing what they view as rightfully theirs, so they abandoned the Asian dragons and their tales of bringing rain and harmony and instead chose the European dragon as the sigil for the threat that they’d rain fire down on anyone that so much as looked at them wrong. They are the only dragons in Japan, and make it very known that any cheap imitations will be burned to ash with the power of the sun before they can gain ground.

Leech Family Backpiece (Image is Jade's tattoo)

High ranking members of the Leech family get this tattoo (Jade is the only one with dual moray, everyone else only has one) that covers their entire back and buttocks. Both Lochlan (my name for papa Leech) and Jade have this tattoo along with several of their long time associates. Floyd didn’t get this one because he “didn’t want his ass tattooed” and opted out. The piece has several elements incorporated into it, the most important of course being the Moray with it’s mouth open showing both sets of serrated teeth, a threat that they will not hesitate to devour their enemies. Other elements include waves, peonies, lotus blossoms, seaweed, and most notably the skull of a dragon and a lion.

Moray were chosen by Lochlan when he got the idea to make a name for himself in the Japanese underworld. He thought it was egotistical of the Draconia family to claim that no other dragons would be able to step foot in Japan, so the moray is a bastardization of the folktale that a koi can swim up a waterfall and become a dragon. The dot on the head of the tattooed moray is a nod to the typical koi markings, and a claim that you don’t need to become a dragon to be great. If the Draconia rule over the sun, then the moray will rule over the depths, in the trenches and alleyways of Japan as the proud dragons are too high and mighty to see what’s happening below their feet. He thought he was clever to use their own words against them, as an eel he doesn’t have “feet” to take a step in Japan and will slither his way into the homes of his enemies before they can stop him.

The peony in the tattoos symbolize wealth, prosperity, and a masculine impulsivity that seems to run in the Leech family blood. The petals are intertwined with crashing waves and water to symbolize change, adaptation, and a powerful force of nature- what Lochlan knew he would be. The lotus flower mixed in is a nod to that change with their meaning of the journey he took from the slums and sewers to a higher plane of existence and his awakening to know that he would be more than a bottom feeder. The seaweed hidden beneath the eel is for the growth of the family hidden away in the dark where once would not normally look, but can still strangle anyone who wanders in unaware. The skulls are an open challenge to the Draconia and Kingscholar family to do their worst, eels are slick and they’d happily drag the other families back to the bottom of the sea with them.

Floyd's tattoo

He didn’t get the typical Leech ones cause he didn’t feel like it, but once he started chasing Yoru and realized she was a tattoo artist he decided it was time to join the ranks of tattooed Leeches. He didn’t want the same thing as everyone else though cause that’s boring, so he had Yoru draft him up something entirely new with the same Leech elements present in the backpiece. He gets chest plates and full sleeves instead of the usual half sleeves. His feature twin moray on his chest with their bodies wrapping around his arms ending at his wrists. It has the same motifs as the other tattoos, and has added the bones of the lions and dragons in with the flowers and waves, but left out the skulls- if only because he wanted the eel to be the focal point rather than the skulls. The dot on the head of his matching eels are two colors split down the middle with yellow/olive and are mirror images on either side of his chest.