Fukushi Masaichi was a Japanese physician and pathologist and the founder one of the world’s only collections of tattoos taken from the dead.
He studied at the Tokyo Imperial University of Medicine. The focus of his research was initially that syphilis caused aortitis and thyroid disease. He became interested in tattoos when he noticed that the tattoo ink in the skin killed the skin lesions of syphilis.
His research on human skin brought him into contact with many people that had tattoos and this led him to become interested in the art of the Japanese tattoo, he did autopsies on corpses, removed the skin and did research on methods to preserve it.
Over the years he collected an archive of around 2000 'hides' which unfortunately were lost in 1945, during World War II. Luckily, he put some of his collection in an air raid shelter so some of them survived. Today, the collection is kept at the Medical Pathology Museum of Tokyo University with 105 tattooed human skins, many of which are full body suits.
While collecting bodysuits might be seen as a grizzly practice, he was well respected among the tattoo community. His subjects were all willing participants, allowing the doctor to preserve their art after death. The skin was gently peeled away from the body, the nerves and tissues were scraped off and then stretched out to dry.
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