Question about Japanese words for Tattoo Artist

[Risuirezumi]

I have a book and it has pictures of Tattoos artists Senja Fuda. I understand what Senja Fuda are and based on my Knowledge the Biggest Kanji is the Artists Name , I believe the other kanji are the artists occupation. I understand the whole japanese process of tattoo names 彫 in front of another kanji to make tattoo artist name.

Now out of all these Senja fuda I see different Kanji for what i think is Tattoo artist , but there are a few variations. Could someone tell me the meaning and difference between these groups of Kanji?

彫り師 ..................... wikipedia says this means tattoo artist


刺青師


刺青


彫師 ........................Someone on this forum said this HoriShi Means tattoo artist

 

[Toritoribe]

I understand the whole japanese process of tattoo names 彫 in front of another kanji to make tattoo artist name.

Indeed, many tattoo artists have the name 彫～, but it's not always so.

彫り師 and 彫師 are completely the same both in reading (horishi) and meaning (tattoo artist). See the explanation of "okurigana" below.

Compounds
Okurigana may be omitted if there is no ambiguity in meaning or reading. 受け付け u-ke tsu-ke, 受付 uke tsuke, 行き先 i-ki saki, 行先 iki saki

Okurigana - Wikipedia

In Edo period , 彫り物/彫物[horimono] referred to tattoo in general meaning, and 入れ墨/入墨[irezumi] was the word for tattoo as a punishment for sinners. They were differentiated at that time. 刺青, which was originally read "shisei", started being pronounced "irezumi" as a jukujikun since Meiji period . Recently, there is no strict difference between 彫り師/彫師[horishi], 刺青師[irezumishi], and 入れ墨師/入墨師[irezumishi]. 彫り物師/彫物師[horimonoshi] can mean tattoo artist, too, but it's often used rather as sculptor/carver.

 

[Risuirezumi]

Ok so 彫り師 刺青師 刺青 and 彫師

can all be used to mean tattoo artist.

 

[Toritoribe]

Ok so 彫り師 刺青師 刺青 and 彫師
can all be used to mean tattoo artist.

Yes, but except 刺青.

Recently, there is no strict difference between 彫り師/彫師[horishi], 刺青師[irezumishi], and 入れ墨師/入墨師[irezumishi].

師 is a suffix meaning "specialist/expart" just like -er/-or/-ist in English. Thus, all of 刺青, 入れ墨, and 入墨 reffer to tattoo itself, whereas all of 彫り師, 彫師, 刺青師, 入れ墨師, and 入墨師 are tattoo artist. (彫り物/彫物 and 彫り物師/彫物師 can also occasionally mean tattoo and tattoo artist, respectively.)