Help with Japanese dragon

A few months ago I started a topic here looking for ideas. I'm not going to rehash the whole thing(you can scroll down to the thread called Looking for ideas if you want the whole story), but basically I found a friend of mine that had been shot and I have felt his presence many times since then sort of helping me sort things out when I'm having problems or whatever. I didn't want to do the typical guardian angel type thing and was having problems coming up with an idea. I have a tattoo of two horses high up on my left shoulder blade, some here had the idea to have an eagle over looking the horses, but they are too high for that to work. If I understand correctly, in Japanese tattooing, the tiger represents the earth and the dragon represents the heavens. That gave me an idea. What if I got a dragon surrounding the horses. Jason and I both love Mustang cars, which are named for the horse obviously. So the dragon would represent Jason being in heaven and the fact that it's surrounding the horses represents him watching over/protecting me. I was all ready interested in Japanese tattoos, but don't know a tremendous amount about the meanings. I do know that there are "rules" about what goes with what and placement and things like that. The question is: Would this type of tattoo work with the traditional Japanese meanings and/or rules? Any other opinions/suggestions? Thanks, Kory

I think it sounds like a pretty interesting and somewhat original concept. It could work well if done by a good artist. Unfortunately I'm not all up on Japanese symbolism so someone els will have to offer their thoughts on that. I like the idea though.

i'm currently having a japanese dragon 3/4 length sleeve done at the moment..which is inspired by the japanese tattooist shige's 'dragon in the mystery clouds'..which i think symbolises the dragon perfectly...and before anyone starts gettin tetchy i'm not stealing his work..just using it as a starting base!!!! you can check out shige's work at www.yellowblaze.net.... as for the meanings and symbolism of dragons there are many...and you may find a particular legend..and therefore a particular type of dragon to fit in with what your looking for..a good place to start is.. http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/dragon.shtml but most importantly is find a good artist who is into this type of art and who will help you get the design you are looking for!! cheers

Wow, lots of good info. on that page. I should have known there would be many meanings for the dragon. It's always that way in Asian mythology. I think I can make this work. Now I need to find the right artist and save the money. I'm in the Richmond, VA. area if anyone knows of a good artist for this type of tattoo near here. Thanks, Kory

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