The moment that changed everything. Shi Jin was born into a wealthy family, trained in martial arts as a gentleman's pursuit, but he made a choice that would define his life - he commissioned those tattoos. Nine dragons coiling across his body, marked into his skin one painful needle at a time. In a society where only criminals and outcasts wore irezumi, this was deliberate self-exile. The tattoos made him unemployable, unmarriageable, outcast. So he became what everyone assumed he was.

Yoshitoshi captures the actual process - Shi Jin seated calmly as the tattoo artist works on his back and arm with traditional tebori hand tools. His torso is already covered in elaborate dragon designs, waves and scales flowing across his skin. The artist beside him in coral robes focuses intently on the work, adding more to the collection. Shi Jin's expression is composed, almost meditative, enduring the pain without flinching. The tools of the trade sit nearby - ink, needles, the implements that will transform him permanently.

This is from Yoshitoshi's 1868 Suikoden series, created decades after Kuniyoshi's famous version sparked the tattoo craze. By this time, everyone knew what those nine dragons meant. Yoshitoshi shows the origin moment - not the outlaw in action, but the deliberate choice to become marked, to wear your rebellion on your skin where everyone can see it.

This is Shi Jin (史進), the "Nine Tattooed Dragons" (九紋龍); known in Japan as Kyūmonryū Shishin (九紋龍史進), from the series Tsūzoku suikoden gōketsu hiyakuhachinin no hitori (通俗水滸伝豪傑百八人之一個, One of the 108 famous Suikoden heroes) 1827.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年, 1839-1892)