I'm not gonna lie, I always thought tattoos were a unique and creative way to express ourselves as human beings. There are many tattoos to get, however, I want to talk about the meaning behind my newest tattoo. It's a cherry blossom tree branch going up my spine and near the bottom, there is a Japanese/kanji character " ai (愛)" which means "love or affection."

I want to start off by talking about how I developed the idea for the tattoo. I already have two other tattoos and I wanted to give careful thought to what my third one could be.

I knew I wanted something that is more feminine and whenever I think of feminity, I think of flowers. At first, I thought about getting a rose on my spine but as time passed, I decided a rose was too basic. So, I began looking at more floral designs and I came across cherry blossoms.

I looked at many different interpretations of cherry blossoms through tattoo designs and some watercolor paintings as well. The beautiful blossoms grabbed my attention immediately and I fell in love with how they looked. An even a bigger bonus is that I did research on their significance in the Japanese and Chinese cultures on Tattooseo and found something incredible:

"The Japanese symbolize the cherry blossom, or Sakura, as being short-lived and believe it is representative of life. It is used as a way to say, “Life is short, live every second as if it is your last”.

This is a mantra that many people want to live by, so the cherry blossom tattoo is a great reminder to those who want to live each day to the fullest. While this is reason enough to get a cherry blossom tattoo, there are also quite a few other meanings behind this flower that carry deep significance.

The Japanese use the cherry blossom as a symbol for their Samurai and to represent wealth and prosperity. Similarly, it can represent the want for power and prosperity, which is something that plenty of people want in their lives. This is yet another cherry blossom tattoo meaning that can motivate people to always look for better things in their lives.

In Chinese culture, the cherry blossom is a symbol of power. Those who are in power or those who are seeking power can both use the cherry blossom tattoo for these similar meanings.

The cherry blossom is also used to represent beauty, feminine sexuality, and love. Obviously, when put together, these are cherry blossom tattoo meanings that women would use a lot more often than men. The flower could be seen a great feminism tattoo since so many of its meanings have something to do with femininity, strength, and beauty.

The cherry blossom is occasionally used to symbolize good luck as well. Since there are plenty of other great “good luck charm” tattoos out there, this is usually an add-on meaning for the cherry blossom tattoo. It's like you get a little, added bonus since you typically get the cherry blossom tattoo to mean one very important thing.

As I looked at this research, I remember telling myself "Yep, this is definitely what I want as a tattoo." But I wanted to add one more thing with the blossoms that defines more of itself and that is the kanji.

As I was looking for deeper information about 愛, I came across a character from the anime show Naruto, and it's Gaara.

As you can see, the kanji character is tattooed on his forehead. Long story short, his uncle Yashamaru told Gaara that he never loved him and within minutes Yashamaru gets injured by Garaa's sand and later commits suicide. He realizes that no one has ever loved him and drew the kanji with his own sand as it bleeds. Along with the kanji and his name, Gaara means Ga meaning "me," ai meaning "love," and ra meaning "demon." Put together it means "self-loving demon." His backstory is pretty sad, but I love how the kanji relates to his life and the anime community.

With many months of research on a specific tattoo, I feel like I have made the right choice. By having the cherry blossoms tattoo and the love kanji, I want my tattoo as a whole to represent love, the beauty of nature and to live life to the fullest.

If you're curious about who did my tattoo, the artists' name is Tony Putt from Love Tattoo in Jenison, Michigan. I would definitely recommend him! To get more information, just click right here: Love Tattoo