headbang8: Tokyo legend says that one day many years ago, the wealthy men of the city issued a challenge to see who had the best tattoo.
A tattoo was then, as it is now, a totem of masculinity. In all cultures, bearing pain shows you're macho; but in Japan, suffering pain is a real cornerstone of manhood.
Tattoos were also a bit of a status symbol. Only the upper classes, who lived on the hills to the west of the city (the Yamanote) could afford the time and expense.
So they were surprised to hear that the challenge was accepted by a group of men from Shitomachi, the down-market, downtown area to the east.
(Before you ask: no, I did not make up the word "Shitomachi". That's really what it was called.)
The day of reckoning came, and the Yamanotejin put forward the man whom they felt had their best tattoo. He took off his yukata to reveal a magnificent dragon (another Asian symbol of manhood), in many colours, perched from shoulder to shoulder. All agreed that this was splendid, and would be hard to beat.
The Shitomachijin brought forth their candidate. A slightly built gent, he took off his yukata to reveal...nothing. He didn't appear to have a tatoo anywhere.
The crowd balked at this, until he reached down to his dick and rolled back the foreskin. There, on the head--most sensitive skin of his body--lay the tattooed image of a single mosquito. He told the crowd that he put it there lest he ever forget the time a real mosquito bit that most delicate part, and the incredible discomfort he bore. We should not assume, he said, that those things which bring us joy cannot also bring us pain.
He won.
Otsukaresamadeshita!
hb8