Published in 1986, The Japanese Tattoo documents Sandi Fellman’s photographic work in Japan during the early 1980s, focusing on the tradition of full-body tattooing known as irezumi. Using large-format colour Polaroids, Fellman captured intimate portraits of individuals who had chosen to commit to this demanding and highly skilled art form at a time when tattooing remained largely hidden from public view in Japan.
 
The book explores tattooing as both personal expression and cultural practice, situating the imagery within long-standing visual traditions that draw from Japanese mythology, Kabuki theatre, folklore, and popular graphic culture. Fellman also reflects on the relationship between tattoo artists and their clients and on the apprenticeship system through which tattooers inherit not only technical knowledge but also lineage, responsibility, and identity.
 
Rather than presenting tattooed bodies as spectacle, the work emphasises craftsmanship, endurance, and mutual trust between photographer and subject. Today, the book stands as an important historical document of Japanese tattoo culture.