DAKINITATTOO

Hello,

I am Masami, artist and owner of Dakin Tattoo in South Philly. The shop began as a space to work with friends but now operates as a private studio.

I grew up in Japan and came to U.S. in 1996 to study technology management in college. I was 18 and attended to school and navigated American college life despite my limited English. I met a boy at a pun show at The Rathskeller. He became my boyfriend, and shared a part of formative time- under age drinking, punk shows and searching for things to do on for the weekends.

When I mentioned my idea of becoming a tattoo artist, he said, “You should do what you want in your life.” It was a foreign idea. I was following a path, in a typical Asian fashion, compromised with thoughtful guidance by my parents. Those guidelines were beneficial for me and it was thoughtful, yet it felt less authentic and less exciting as to what I wanted to experience.

I eventually left college and studied sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It took me two years to find an opportunity for an apprenticeship after graduation and another two years of apprenticeship before I started tattooing. It was during the period most new commers had no idea where to buy a tattoo machine unless you worked at a shop and the machine builder sometimes call your number just to verify you actually worked at a verifiable shop, Pre-internet banking, pre-Amazon prime time (笑). I am forever grateful for my old boss for the opportunity and let me work under him for nearly 10 years. I didn’t have a chance to tell him directly but here it is. It is my favorite time to remember.

My passion in the last four decades besides art has been to sample books and ideas which help me explore human psychology, our collective conscious and unconscious not in scientific but through artistic and story tellers -layman’s perspective. This interest grew gradually and was inspired back in 7th grade when I borrowed a book “人間であるということ https://tinyurl.com/yc6y7fn4” from my grandfather.

My journey in metaphysics began in fourth grade when I joined a meditation group lead by monks at a Zen temple for the summer. We had no shortage in zen teachings growing up. Five of my class mates were a child of local temple families. An interesting twist came from my fascination with Christianity, sparked by monthly Jehovah’s witness publications delivered by our family friend. At fourteen I developed a deep affinity to Tibetan Buddhism when my best friends’ grandfather, a respected monk, allowed us on a Pilgrimage to India and Bhutan, where I first learned about tantra. Later, I spent time exploring ideas of hell, reincarnation, faith, and their relationship to physical reality, while examining concepts of God and gods until they finally made sense to me.

On this journey I’ve read (especially pre youtube era) anything from classical literatures, NY times best sellers at Borders, religious texts, ancient history, OG conspiracy theories, philosophy, psychology (shout out to Carl Jung!), theory on physics (very very lightly), metaphysics, esoteric teachings and occult history etc. Later on , plant medicine helped me identify human archetypes in the books and stories now that I feel I have gathered enough samplings, I am currently working on a book/art project based on my gnosis as a form of self expression and a hobby.