Tattoo shops in Kobe

Thinking about ink in Kobe, Kansai? Start with the studios: 7 are mapped here. All 7 are mapped as tattoo studios proper, and each one is worth a portfolio browse before you commit — style varies more between shops than towns. A consultation costs nothing and tells you everything about how a shop runs.

This guide covers every tattoo shop we could verify in and around Kobe (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include UNTIVE and Piercing, plus Tattoo Studio 貴ぼん. If a studio's missing from Kobe's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet — the scene is bigger than any single dataset.

The Kobe tattoo lineup

7 mapped within about 40 km:

What the map tells us about tattoo shops in Kobe

None of the 7 has opening hours in the map data, so treat this as a browse-and-discover trip. Most tattoo studios work by appointment anyway, so call or message before dropping in.

The Kobe tattoo shop tour

The efficient Kobe tattoo shop tour strings these together: UNTIVE, Piercing, Tattoo Studio 貴ぼん, SOUTHBAY TATTOO, ELEPHANT TATTOO, 86 tattoo, and Viktoria's Re: CheReine — 7 stops, one logical order.

Tattoo tips for Kobe

Picking a studio in Kobe? A little homework pays off:

• Don't pick the scabs at UNTIVE. Healing tattoos itch and flake. Picking pulls ink out with the scab and leaves patchy spots.
• Think about placement long-term at Piercing. Hands, neck and face limit job options in some fields. Your artist will be honest about this if you ask.
• No swimming while it heals. Pools, lakes, hot tubs — all off limits for two to three weeks. Fresh tattoos and bacteria don't mix.
• Don't drink the night before. Alcohol thins the blood and makes you bleed more, which pushes ink out. Arrive sober and hydrated.

Good to know

We searched about 40 km around Kobe — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new tattoo shop in Kobe can take a while to appear. Spotted a closure among the 7, or a tattoo shop we missed entirely? The map is the source of truth here — one OpenStreetMap edit corrects it for everyone.

We don't rate studios or artists, and we never list prices — those are between you and the shop. What we list is the where and the how-to-find, from places real mappers have verified.

If you run one of the 7 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.