Yutaro brings a deep and disciplined understanding of Irezumi to his work, blending time-honored Japanese tattoo traditions with a contemporary artistic sensibility. His extensive experience is evident in the large-scale, flowing compositions he creates—full backs, sleeves, and chest panels that move seamlessly with the body and reflect the narrative nature of classic Japanese tattooing.

His background in fine art enriches his approach, giving each piece a painterly depth while remaining firmly rooted in traditional aesthetics. This balance of precision, storytelling, and cultural fidelity has made his work instantly recognizable and deeply respected among both peers and collectors.

Whether he is crafting expansive, multi-session projects or intimate symbolic motifs, Yutaro approaches every tattoo with intention and reverence for the craft. Each piece is executed with the goal of creating something meaningful—work that honors the wearer and the long lineage of Irezumi.

Kiku Punk began tattooing in Japan in 1996 before relocating to New York in 1999, bringing with him a distinct artistic voice shaped by both traditional Japanese culture and the evolving tattoo landscape of the late ‘90s. As the co-owner of Good Luck NYC, he has established himself as a defining presence in the city’s tattoo community, known for a style rooted in Japanese wabi-sabi—finding beauty in imperfection, spontaneity, and natural form.

Kiku’s tattoos are often drawn directly onto the body, allowing each piece to evolve intuitively and harmoniously with the client’s anatomy. His work is marked by loose, expressive composition paired with bold traditional colors, creating imagery that feels both timeless and refreshingly unrestrained. Classic elements of Japanese iconography—creatures, motifs, patterns, and folklore—appear throughout his work, reimagined with a playful sensibility that reflects his unique interpretation of the tradition.

This approach also carries into his art prints and merchandise, where the same balance of looseness, character, and cultural reference defines his visual voice. Whether on paper or skin, Kiku’s work embodies an energy that is unmistakably his own: traditional at its core, yet vibrant, fluid, and deeply personal.

Regino Gonzales, known as RG, merges the discipline of Japanese irezumi with American traditional sensibilities, crafting tattoos that are at once dynamic, balanced and strikingly original. In his work, the bold compositions of samurai and dragon motifs weave seamlessly with flapper-era imagery and classic American iconography—creating a visual language that transcends stylistic boundaries rather than clashing with them.

RG’s mastery lies in his ability to command movement across the body: whales suspended in water, bald eagles mid-wail, patterns of dragon scales and flora interlay with portraits of religious figures, all rendered with precision and cohesion. His designs don’t simply cover the skin—they flow with it, marrying form and narrative in every piece.

Through his artistry, RG creates what one critic described as “creative gold,” where technique and imagination meet to push tattooing into new terrain. His practice reflects not only his deep respect for tradition, but also his distinct vision of how those traditions can evolve.

Ichibay stands at the crossroads of tradition and innovation in Japanese tattooing—an artist whose work bridges the time-honoured masters with contemporary reinterpretation. His style is deeply anchored in classic Japanese iconography—flowers, warriors, dragons, geishas—but is executed with a freshness and fluidity that sets him apart.

His drawings reflect an acute study of form, movement, and line. With hundreds of pages and thousands of drawings collected in his art book, he offers a visual laboratory of subjects—frogs, foxes, crabs, tigers, ghosts—each rendered through subtle poses and a deliberate softness of line. As one publisher notes, “Ichibay’s work links traditional and modern Japanese tattooing like no one else.”

Whether in his studio or in print, Ichibay’s practice is driven by the idea of drawing as research: each sketch, each variation a step closer to mastery. The result is a body of work that not only pays homage to the past, but also charts his own visionary path forward.