Horiyume – Curving Dream

Editorial for 434 Tattoo

Introducing Horiyume…

Many years ago, when Tattoo Adam Siehr was still a child, he found a tattoo magazine with a spread on Japanese Tattoos. Adam would start his Tattoo apprenticeship at the young age of 17, in an old school shop located in Milwaukee, run by bikers.

Experiencing a traditional apprenticeship, he learned the true way to tattoo from the ground up, something the internet how-to guides don’t give you, furthermore illustrating the value of a practice with proper training.

Adam also saw some things that the average person would not see everyday in our Society.  You could say it was a bit explosive because on one occasion, a bomb went off just after he shut the shop down!

After some time in Milwaukee crafting his trade, Adam left home for the bright lights and big city of Las Vegas.  Adam would spend his time in the desert honing his skills and developing further along the way.  Over the years, he tattooed people from all over, including former Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson!

Adam also began his travels, which have taken him all over the world for both site-seeing and tattooing.  Never forgetting what first inspired him, Adam eventually went to the Far East and sought out Japanese tattoo icon Horiyoshi III in Yokohama, Japan…

Over many trips, Adam would learn from and get tattooed by the revered tattoo master, whose name spans outside of just the tattoo community and is known throughout the multiple industries.  People from all walks of life simply know him as ‘Sensei,’ the Japanese word for ‘teacher.’

Recently, Tattoo Adam made another trip to Japan to visit Horiyoshi that would be monumental.

It’s been a wild ride for Adam in the last two years, having experienced some great adversity personally along with changes professionally.  Nonetheless, he kept riding the waving through the high and low tides.  With that last trip, Horiyoshi started Adam’s sleeve, the final step towards the bodysuit that the last 20 plus years have been leading him towards.

This past week, Adam received an awesome surprise in the mail…

It is believed that the rough estimate of time needed to attain a level of mastery is 10 years of work and practice.  Now in his 22nd year in the industry, Tattoo Adam received the gift of a lifetime and the validation of mastery when he was given those kanji in the photos.

The kanji reads as Horiyume, which translate as “Curving Dream.”

Horiyume is a name that Horiyoshi himself has given Tattoo Artist Adam Siehr who is now also known as the Tattoo Artist Horiyume.

This is a true story, of someone who had a dream and followed it all the way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Honolulu, Hawaii, and wherever else his Journey leads .

Congratulations Horiyume!  Aloha!