Quite often, people want to get tattooed with a loved one. Tattoos with married spouses, boyfriends and girlfriends, all of which are affairs of the heart, are notorious as being tattoos that are regretted later. However, tattoos with people who are biological family often seem to do well seem to do much better in the satisfaction department. In my experience, parents and children who celebrate that bond with ink quite often are often very happy with the results for the rest of their lives.

Here is a collection of kanji, the Japanese characters so beloved in Western tattooing presently. Included are mother, daughter, woman, man, son, father, child, teacher and friends.


You often see kanji just tattooed in black by themselves, but you can also think of them as a field or shape. You can add a texture, or if done large enough, another image inside of them. You can fill them in with color, or leave them empty against a busy background. Be sure to check with a native language speaker if you get a custom translation done before you get your new tattoo inked for good. It never hurts to make sure it really says what you wanted it to say.

To help you decide on a kanji and find the characters on which to base a design, you might like
Designing with Kanji: Japanese Character Motifs for Surface, Skin & Spirit
by Shogo Oketani and Leza Lowitz

or you might like Tattooing From Japan To The West: Horitaka Interviews Contemporary Artists
by Takahiro Kitamura.