I love this picture.  The young chap looks very casual, and is clearly enjoying himself.  And why shouldn’t he be?  He is, after all, The Duke of York, later to become King George V of England.  “And what is the future monarch doing?” I hear you ask.  He is, of course getting a tattoo. 
George, and his brother were on a 3 year tour of duty around the world with the Navy.  During a stop in Yokohama, Japan in 1882, they took the opportunity of visiting the great tattoo master, Hori Chyo.  George had a dragon expertly inked onto his arm, and sparked a fashion for tattoos amongst the European aristocracy.
His mother was supposedly not altogether impressed at the modification of her son’s body, but others were very taken with the idea, and  a wave of noblemen started heading for the tattoo parlours.

At the time, in London, there were approximately 20 tattoo artists working.  According to the Times, these artists were at various levels of competency, and some of the best started to get visits from well known nobles.  Other, wealthier members of the aristocracy (including Tsar Nicholas II) were so impressed with the work that Hori Chyo had performed on George, that they went straight to Japan.

For a long time, tattoos had, at least in Europe, been largely only worn by sailors, but now there was a trend towards the wealthy, too.  Tattooing was becoming more mainstream.

I’ll be coming back to this topic, looking at some more famous tattooed people, and how they helped make tattooing less taboo.

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