Sōshinbori

Sōshinbori is the full-body tattoo — the point at which back, sleeves, chest and legs stop being separate pieces and start reading as one composition. It is a destination rather than a state, and this is the record of getting there.

Mine is a donburi: no split down the chest, the front carried straight across. It takes its name from the rice bowl, decorated everywhere but the rim — so what is left bare is the collar, the wrists, and a band above the ankles. Nothing to open a shirt on. That was the decision that took the longest.

One entry per session: what got done, how it went, and whatever I was thinking about on the drive home. The photographs are the point; the writing is just the caption.