WEBIn Japanese, irezumi literally means 'inserting ink' and can be written in several ways, most commonly as 入れ墨. Synonyms include bunshin (文身, lit. ' patterning the body '), shisei (刺青, lit. ' piercing with blue '), and gei (黥, lit. ' tattooing '). Each of these synonyms can also be read as irezumi, a gikun reading of these kanji.