Japanese Calligraphy, or Shodo, has been a part of my life since the age of six. My training both at home and in calligraphy would be more familiar to the martial arts practitioner than to that of an artist. But as my mother assured me, this was to the betterment of my character .

I was born in Japan where I lived most of my life. There I achieved the rank of Shihan which is one of the highest possible ranks. This rank means that one is certified to start a school and teach their own technique. This was achieved not only through study but also through winning multiple national competitions.

See more of Eri Takase's tattoo designs here!

I started doing body art designs purely by accident. As an artist newly moved to the United States in 1996 one common theme of the emails I received was people asking the meaning of a Chinese or Japanese design and whether or not the design had the intended meaning. One does not have to see many of these emails to go from disbelief to anger. There is simply no reason that meaningful and accurate designs cannot be obtained.

I have been doing custom body art designs for eight years. I have had thousands of delighted customers who walked away not only knowing the meaning of the designs, but also knew the person that did the design. And my customers always knew they could contact me with any questions. That is important.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to work with Lou Bardach to create a set of flash designs that allowed me to offer not only unambiguously correct designs, but to also offer artistic variations that push the envelope of design and offer something that is really new.

If you have questions or would like to learn calligraphy please visit my website at www.takase.com