Kanji Tattoos - Japanese Tattoo Symbols

Not done in Japan, but a trend in the West: kanji tattoos, it's what Pink, Britney Spears and Mel C have in common.

Japanese kanji tattoo

Japanese tattoo symbols are popular in America and Europe and It’s easy to see why: kanji are understated, yet impactful – both compact and elegant, a kanji tattoo is the perfect way to make an artistic statement that is both modern and meaningful.
The Japanese writing system has 3 sorts of script:

Kanji: Japanese kanji are characters with a Chinese origin. Kanji characters are used for nouns (words like "peace" or "perseverance"). Here's an example of kanji characters, meaning "morning":
Katakana: are used to write loan words (foreign words) and names. Here's the name "Emily" translated into Japanese, written in katakana script:
Hiragana: are used for adjectives and grammatical stuff.

For tattoos the kanji script is used the most often, followed by Katakana for name translations.
If you are interested in having a kanji tattoo, then make sure you get the correct kanji characters. Don't rely on a website that offers you an online English to Japanese kanji dictionary for your translation, you might end up with a tattoo that means something totally different than you think it means. Use our professional tattoo translation instead, so you are sure you get the correct kanji.
Here's a list of the most popular kanji symbols and their meanings: