InkCraftChrysanthemum Tattoo Ideas, Designs and Meaning
14 original chrysanthemum designs drawn for InkCraftBy Uladzimir TumanauUpdated
The chrysanthemum means long life in China and Japan and a grave in much of Europe, and which one a stranger sees depends on where they grew up. The spider, the pompom and the incurved dome here are three of thirteen classes growers recognise, and each is drawn differently.
Color irezumi chrysanthemum tattoo design Try it on — Color irezumi chrysanthemum tattoo design
Black and white Japanese chrysanthemum tattoo design Try it on — Black and white Japanese chrysanthemum tattoo design
Black and white fine line chrysanthemum tattoo design, outline stencil (1 of 2) Try it on — Black and white fine line chrysanthemum tattoo design, outline stencil (1 of 2)
Color traditional chrysanthemum tattoo design Try it on — Color traditional chrysanthemum tattoo design
Color illustrative chrysanthemum tattoo design Try it on — Color illustrative chrysanthemum tattoo design
Black and grey Japanese chrysanthemum tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey Japanese chrysanthemum tattoo design
Black and white fine line chrysanthemum tattoo design, outline stencil (2 of 2) Try it on — Black and white fine line chrysanthemum tattoo design, outline stencil (2 of 2)
Color Japanese chrysanthemum and flower tattoo design Try it on — Color Japanese chrysanthemum and flower tattoo design
Color neo traditional chrysanthemum and leaf tattoo design: a large pink and yellow flower Try it on — Color neo traditional chrysanthemum and leaf tattoo design: a large pink and yellow flower
Black and grey illustrative chrysanthemum and flower tattoo design: a wilting chrysanthemum Try it on — Black and grey illustrative chrysanthemum and flower tattoo design: a wilting chrysanthemum
Black and grey illustrative chrysanthemum and scorpio tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey illustrative chrysanthemum and scorpio tattoo design
Black and grey irezumi chrysanthemum and skull tattoo design Try it on — Black and grey irezumi chrysanthemum and skull tattoo design
Black and white blackwork chrysanthemum and birth flower tattoo design Try it on — Black and white blackwork chrysanthemum and birth flower tattoo design
Color illustrative chrysanthemum and birth flower tattoo design: three pink cosmos Try it on — Color illustrative chrysanthemum and birth flower tattoo design: three pink cosmos
Tap any design to see it on your own skin in the try-on — no signup.
This set of 14 chrysanthemum designs, by the numbers
- Styles represented
- illustrative (4), japanese asian (3), irezumi (2), fine line (2), traditional (1), neo traditional (1)
- Black-and-grey vs colour
- 57% black-and-grey, 43% colour
- Most often drawn with
- flower, leaf, birth flower, scorpio
Counted from the 14 designs shown on this page. Every one was drawn for InkCraft — none are scraped or reposted. Free to reference with a link to this page.
What a chrysanthemum tattoo means
In China the chrysanthemum is the flower of autumn and of a long life. It opens when almost everything else in the garden has finished and stands up to the first frosts, which made it one of the Four Gentlemen of Chinese painting and the emblem of the scholar who keeps his integrity out of office. On the Double Ninth festival, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, people drank chrysanthemum wine for longevity, a custom carried to Japan as the Chrysanthemum Festival.
Japan made it a state emblem. The plant arrived from China as a medicine in the Nara period, and Emperor Go-Toba, who reigned at the end of the twelfth century, is said to have taken it as his personal crest. The sixteen-petalled chrysanthemum became the mark of the imperial house, which is why the monarchy is called the Chrysanthemum Throne. The kiku mon here, sixteen petals with the tips of a second row between them, follows the emperor's own pattern.
Europe reads it the other way. In France, Belgium, Italy and Poland pots of chrysanthemums are carried to family graves for All Saints' Day on 1 November, and a bunch given as a present there can look like a funeral. East Asia shares part of that, since white chrysanthemums are laid at funerals in Japan, China and Korea, so long life and mourning sit in the same flower.
The designs here play on both. The skull with a chrysanthemum growing from its eye socket puts death and long life in one image; the wilting bloom with its head bowed is the European grave flower; the Scorpio glyph above a bloom marks a November birthday, since this is the month's birth flower. Kate Greenaway's flower dictionary of 1884 let colour change the message: red said I love, white truth, yellow slighted love.
Where the design comes from
Tao Yuanming, who gave up office around 405 to farm, wrote in his Drinking Wine poems of picking chrysanthemums by the eastern fence and catching sight of the southern mountains. Puccini named his string-quartet elegy of 1890, Crisantemi, after the flower Italians lay on graves; Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, her 1946 study of Japan, set the imperial flower beside the samurai's blade.
Choosing yours
- Pick the form before the style. Each bloom is hundreds of small florets, and American growers recognise thirteen classes by shape: the spider's tubular petals hook at the tips, the pompom is a tight ball, the incurved dome curls every petal inward. Each is drawn differently.
- Decide whether you want the flower or the crest. The kiku mon is a flat graphic, legible at 5 cm, but it is also an emblem of the Japanese state: a single row of sixteen petals is stamped on passports, and the double row belongs to the emperor.
- In irezumi the kiku stands for autumn, drawn large among the seasonal flowers of a sleeve or back; the magenta irezumi bloom here needs 12 cm or more to keep its petals apart.
Size, cost and placement
How big, and what it costs
The kiku crest and the pompom are compact, 5 to 8 cm and about an hour. A fine-line or ink-painted bloom on its stem runs 12 to 15 cm and two to three hours; the irezumi kiku and the skull are 15 cm or more, a full day in colour.
Where it sits, and how much it hurts
A single dome suits the shoulder cap or the back of the hand; a bloom on a tall stem runs down the forearm or calf, and irezumi work belongs on the upper arm, chest or back. The hand and sternum are the sharp spots.
What to ask your artist
- Whether the petals stay apart at your size.
- For the crest, whether you mean the imperial pattern.
- For colour, how the gold tips will hold, since pale pigments fade first.
Prices vary widely by city and artist — treat these as session lengths rather than quotes, and expect a shop minimum on anything small. The cost guide turns hours into money by size, placement and style.
Common questions
Will a chrysanthemum look like a funeral flower to Europeans?
To some, especially in France, Belgium, Italy and Poland. The golden pompom reads as decoration; a single white or wilting bloom leans toward mourning.
Can I wear the imperial crest if I am not Japanese?
Many do, but it is used much like a national coat of arms, and in the Meiji era nobody but the emperor was allowed it. For the flower without the emblem, choose a drawn bloom.
Why do some chrysanthemum petals look like tubes?
Because they are: in the spider and quill forms each ray floret is rolled into a tube, drawn here as two lines that touch below about 10 cm.
What does the chrysanthemum have to do with November?
It is the November birth flower, the only month on the usual list with a single plant, so it often joins a Scorpio glyph, as it does here.
See it on your skin before you commit
InkCraft places any of these designs on a photo of you — scaled, wrapped and shaded to the placement you pick.