Japanese tattooing

(also spelled or sometimes ) is the Japanese word for tattoo, and is used in English to refer to a distinctive style of Japanese tattooing, though it is also used as a blanket term to describe a number of tattoo styles originating in Japan, including tattooing traditions from both the Ainu people and the Ryukyuan Kingdom.

thumb|Tattoo-marks on the hands of a Ryukyuan woman are traditional tattoos worn on the hands of Ryukyuan (mainly Okinawan) women.

thumb|280px|Wakizashi forged by Koyama Sōbei Munetsugu with a horimono engraved on the blade by Shōji Zenbei Nobutatsu. A [[vajra is engraved to pray for the protection of the offspring. Edo period]] right|thumb|100px|Antique Japanese wakizashi sword blade showing the horimono, of a chrysanthemum Horimono (, , literally carving, engraving), also known as chōkoku (, "sculpture"), are the engraved images in the blade of a nihonto () Japanese sword, which may include katana or tantō blades. The artist is called a chōkokushi (), or a horimonoshi (, "engraver").