Fine Japanese Calligraphy

The Art of Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

Custom Japanese Tattoo — Calligraphy by Eri Takase

Custom Japanese Tattoo

Hand-brushed by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase · 153 reviews

Tattoos are deeply personal and permanent. You need an experienced Japanese Calligrapher that will listen to you carefully and then provide you with suitable designs and explanations. One that will patiently work with you until your tattoo design is just right.

With over fifteen years experience and thousands of satisfied clients, Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase is the perfect partner to work with to get your custom Japanese tattoo. She is praised in review after review for her cultured art and for her courtesy and professionalism.

We walk you through it. Let us know what you want to express with your tattoo. We will then email you hand-brushed samples that have translations, different fonts, and different layouts. We get your feedback and make changes and continue until the design is exactly the way you want it.

The final design is emailed as an Adobe PDF file so it will print just as Master Takase brushed the art. And the final design includes the line art that your tattoo artist must have to properly ink the design.

Order now and get started on your new tattoo.

Less than 5" is perfect for words and short phrases.

Tell us what you want. We email you hand-brushed samples and work with you until the design is perfect.

Your Custom Japanese Tattoo

Custom Japanese Calligraphy Design No-Mindedness (mushin) by Eri Takase Custom Japanese Calligraphy Design
No-Mindedness (mushin)
by Eri Takase

Our secret at Takase Studios is simple, we work with you until the design is perfect. There are no hidden fees, no fine print. We really want you to have a great experience and a great custom Japanese tattoo and so we work hard to make everything just right.

To begin, we need to know roughly the size you want the tattoo to be and what you would like your tattoo to express. In most cases, the Less than 5" option is sufficient. And if you need it a bit larger, your tattoo artist can often resize the design when the stencil is made. Order the larger designs only when there are a lot of characters or a lot of detail. If in doubt, order the default less than five inches (12.7 cm) size.

Once we have your order, we will then create several options for the translation and several designs showing different fonts and layouts. These hand-lettered designs by Master Takase are then scanned, documented and emailed to you. We also include detailed explanations and links to online Japanese dictionaries and other independent resources when appropriate. We are happy to provide you with as much information as you need to be completely confident with the translation.

You can then examine the designs at your leisure and decide which samples you like. Based on your feedback, we create the next set of designs. And we continue in this fashion, you and Master Takase working together, until the design is exactly the way you want it.

This design process is fun, informative and normally takes two or three sample sets to arrive at the perfect design.

For a specific example see Custom Design Process where we show the designs and actual communications used to achieve a final design. This is a great example of the process we would use with you to create your custom Japanese tattoo design.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us

Custom Japanese Tattoo Design Seven Virtues of Bushido by Master Eri Takase Custom Japanese Tattoo Design
Seven Virtues of Bushido by Master Eri Takase

Translations You Can Trust We take great care in making sure that the designs we create are absolutely correct and we are happy to provide you with as much supporting material as you need to be completely confident with the translation.Takase Studios has both a native English speaking translator and a native Japanese translator. This way we are sure to understand the nuance and the context of the English and are able to render this in Japanese as close as possible.

We also have an extensive library and lists of online resources and are able to locate original Japanese quotes, poems, and sayings. So whether looking for original text in the Japanese National Archives or choosing the most suitable translation from our five different Japanese Bibles, whenever it exists we get the authoritative source for the translation.

Japanese Tattoo Design Falcon (hayabusa) by Eri Takase Falcon (hayabusa) by Eri Takase
All designs are delivered as Adobe PDF and print exactly as designed. Along with the original art is the line art that your tattoo artist needs to ink the design

Tips For Your Perfect Custom Japanese Tattoo

Here we talk about what to look for in a final design and a few important points to consider before you have the design inked.

Our final designs include all you need to get your tattoo inked. On the right is an actual final tattoo design. Click on the image see the actual Adobe PDF and try printing it out. And, as you read along, notice that our final designs address all these points.

1) The final design must print accurately You want the design in a format that you can print and it will look exactly the way the artist created it. We use the Adobe PDF format which works on almost all hardware and is probably already on your computer. If not, you can download it for free from Adobe.

Final designs in JPG, GIF and many other formats print differently on different hardware and so are not satisfactory.

2) The final design must have the line art The line art is an outline of the design that your tattoo artist will use to make the actual stencil that will be applied to your skin. With the line art on your skin, your tattoo artist will then refer to the art to accurately ink the nuances of the design.

We strongly recommend that your tattoo artist not free-hand the design, but use the line art.

Both the final art and line art should be high-resolution images in case they need to be resized. Ideally, as we do, the line art should be vectorized so it will look good regardless of size.

Custom Japanese Tattoo Design Courage (yuuki) by Master Eri Takase Custom Japanese Tattoo Design Courage (yuuki)
by Master Eri Takase

3) The final design must include documentation You want to make sure that the design is well documented. Over the years, if you have questions about the design you want to be sure you have all the details handy in one place. This includes the English, the Japanese reading, and the Japanese. And make sure the design includes how to contact the calligrapher!

Remember that over the years the tattoo will need to be re-inked. We have been doing this so long now that we get many requests for the originals - which fortunately we keep for our clients. However, to be sure it is best to have your own original for safekeeping.

4) Discuss the final design with your tattoo artist We always recommend discussing the tattoo design with your tattoo artist before your inking session. Here your tattoo artist will examine the design and discuss the placement. Issues may arise if there is not enough white space in the design in which case your tattoo artist may ask for adjustments. And these adjustments should be made by your calligrapher, not your tattoo artist. So make sure that you can go back to your calligrapher to have any needed adjustments made.

This issue rarely comes up for us and usually happens when the client wants the design significantly smaller than originally designed. In this case, adjustments may need to be made such as making the lines thinner.

Regardless of the reason, it is important that your calligrapher will make adjustments to the final design and that your calligrapher always defers to your tattoo artist. And for you, it is important that your calligrapher does not charge extra for this!

At Takase Studios, we have worked with thousands of tattoo artists from all over the world. And, while we rarely have issues, we always defer to the tattoo artist and always make the adjustments with no charge. Of course.

Japanese Tattoo Designs - Eternal Love by Master Eri Takase "Eternal Love" A special thanks to Anke and Torsten for sharing this photo

Calligraphy based Body Art Designs require mastery of the art as well as accuracy and attention to detail. You need to be able to interact with the artist at every level to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of the design. We take great pride in providing you with all the information and feedback you need to ensure that you are getting a design that is just right for you.

We work with you on each step of the design and give you the personal attention you need so you will be completely comfortable and confident with your new Japanese tattoo.

Custom Japanese Tattoo Design Peace (wa) by Eri Takase Custom Japanese Tattoo Design Peace (wa)
by Eri Takase
Custom Japanese Tattoo Design Mother (haha) by Eri Takase Custom Japanese Tattoo Design
Mother (haha)
by Eri Takase
Custom Japanese Tattoo Design Large by Eri Takase Custom Japanese Tattoo Design Large by Eri Takase
Custom Japanese Calligraphy Tattoo By Eri Takase as Part of a Larger Tattoo Custom Japanese Calligraphy Tattoo By Eri Takase as Part of a Larger Tattoo
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us
Julie Mills 2008-12-28
This is Julie Mills and I just wanted to tell you that I did get my tattoo that you designed on Wednesday December 3rd at Slave to the Needle in Seattle. My artist's name was Clark and he was fantastic.

As soon as the tattoo heals a bit I will have a picture taken of it and send to you. The highest compliment I received so far, came from a woman (who was second generation Japanese) who was helping me apply some ointment onto my tattoo two weeks ago and was very impressed by the caligrapher who designed the tattoo for me. As she applied the ointment, she began to read it out loud and commented how beautiful it was.

Others have said that the tattoo artist who applied the design on me, was very accurate as well - like the picture - they said. So needless to say I am very happy to have found you and took the chance to put your work on my body, as I express my love for the soulmate, I recently discovered in my life.

Domo Arigato Gozaimasu Eri-san,
Andrew Rafferty 2009-01-24
You thank me for the order and I will thank you for such incredible craftsmanship.
It is so beautiful that I have printed the document at photo quality and I shall be framing it and putting it on my wall.
Thank you for your speedy reply and service and I will, for what its worth, be recommending you to anybody who will listen !
Stephen and Natalie Cyr 2009-01-27
Hi Eri,

Thank you very much for this design. I love it.

It was a pleasure doing business with you and you are extremely fast. I will definitely recommend you to everyone that I talk to.

Cheers,

Stephen
Daniel Corder 2009-02-03
The Tattoo design is PERFECT!! Thank you very much and please say thank you to anyone else that was involved. You guys have great communication, and all your work is clear and easy to understand, its been as easy as pie to work with you and your team. I would recommend you to all my friends in the UK. Love your work!!
Stanley Richter 2009-02-04
Your designs (if that is the best word for it) are amazing! The artist I use in Las Vegas loves them! You can actually see the brush strokes when he does them.

I am so happy I found your website. Translation is "everything"!

I am pulling everything together and will send it to you and we can work on the custom design for the next one.

Thank you again.

Regards,

Stanley
Zach from Wisconsin 2009-05-11
I am not only impressed by the artwork, but also by the exceptionally fast service. Great support and responses and help dealing with a small glitch on Paypal's end. I could not have asked for a better experience in getting what I needed for my piece. I'd recommend this site to anyone looking for quality work.
Zachary O'Rourke 2009-06-17
Thank you so much for the time and effort put into the beautiful design!! Eri (and anyone else) she works with does AMAZING work! She was very willing to work with me through every step, leaving me with plenty of time to think of what I wanted it to look like. There is no other person that I would rather trust to design a unique, one of a kind calligraphy piece for tattoo artwork. For me, with as unique as the Kanji are that I got, I am guaranteed that I will never come across another person with as stunning of artwork as I have, thanks to Eri!

If you are looking for peace of mind in translation look no further because she makes sure you know what it means. Also, going through Eri is the best choice because it takes out a big chunk of the tattoo artists work (not to mention you would be hard-pressed to find any tattoo artist that could come close to replicating Eri's level of skill!) It's the greatest feeling to have my tattoo design and stencil and walk into the tattoo shop and be ready to go, knowing exactly what it will look like from the start!

Thanks Again!!!
Yves BABITCH 2009-06-23
Dear Eri,
Thanks a lot for your great work on my tattoo design. The result looks exactly as I expected.
I encourage everyone to buy a 'Custom work' design : you will soon forget the price you paid when you get the result, and you are sure to get a unique design. Communicating with Eri is easy and fast, so you get your definitive design very quickly, unless you need more time to change your mind.
Really a perfect - and human - service !

Yves Babitch
Aoloa Santos 2009-06-23
Eri worked with me and my design very closely and what came out of it was a "MASTERPIECE". She is so sweet, friendly, and very easy to work with..she was so patient with me during the whole process and I appreciated her commitment to making me happy with my tattoo design.

I later came to her in between all of that to see if she could help me with another design for my maiden name, since I had the kanji already, I needed it to be redone. Despite the work she was already doing for me she was more then willing to help me with this project too. I not only got another tattoo design with my family name, and done beautifully may I add, but I was also able to get a custom art done for my Dad since he's so proud of his Japanese heritage and family. She even went out of her way to make sure I received the art piece and calligraphy set by Father's Day, even when I brought this to her three days before Father's Day. At such late notice I wasn't expecting it to be done by Father's Day but she worked her magic and made it happen. My dad is not one for the dramatics when it comes to gifts but he was so happy with the art piece and the calligraphy set. Just from his expression I know I topped all his other gifts, thank to Eri.

I am a total fan of Eri's work and am proud to say that I am wearing a genuine piece of art that she made. Though my dad isn't a fan of tattoos he was so blown away when I showed him what she designed and said if he ever got a tattoo that's exactly what he would want, the calligraphy was in his words "just beautiful." Thank you, Eri, for your talent and for the service you provided to get me everything I wanted so promptly. I will be back for more that's for sure!
John from Canberra, Australia 2009-07-07
I love the kanji tattoo that I recently had done. Mt tattoo artist was very impressed with the quality of the stensil. the finished product actually looks like it has been painted on in the traditional style! My wife is also considering a number of designs for her first