DocWatson wrote:
42317 wrote:
Isn't Kurikaramonmon a specific type of tattoo - a depiction the Dragon King on one's back?
My original source,
WWWJDIC, just lists it as "(n) tattoo", while
Japanese Slang: Uncensored by Peter Constantine (p. 200) says "large elaborate tattoo". <shrug>
I was updating the "In Japanese" section because I had checked the
"Irezumi" Wikipedia article, and discovered several dissections of the kanji for "tattoo". When I searched for a literal translation of "kurikaramonmon", I found this:
Kurikara 倶利迦羅:
Quote:
Also known as Kurika 矩里迦, a transliteration of Sanskrit 'Kulika', the name of a dragon-king (see *ryuu 龍) mentioned in Indian legends.[…] The "Kurikara pattern" (kurikara-monmon 倶利迦羅紋々) is also a popular motif in tattoos (irezumi 入墨).
I have thus modified the definition, which I will post in a moment.