Fukushi Masaini (1878–1956) was a Japanese physician, pathologist, and emeritus professor at the Nippon Medical School in Tokyo

Fukushi Masaini (1878–1956) was a Japanese physician, pathologist, and emeritus professor at the Nippon Medical School in Tokyo. However, he is much better known as the creator of the world's only collection of tattoos taken from people with their skin.

Fukushi Masaichi studied at the Tokyo Imperial University of Medicine. In 1914, after an internship in Germany, he began teaching at the Medical College of Kanazawa University. Masaichi later became chairman of the "Japanese Society of Pathologists". Initially, his area of interest was syphilis: Fukushi investigated how this disease provokes aoritis and thyroid diseases. In fact, he became interested in tattoos during his research in this area: once Masaiti noticed that applying ink to syphilis lesions destroyed the pathogen.

His skin studies led to the acquaintance of many people who had tattoos. As a result, in 1926 he became interested in the art of Japanese tattooing, irezumi. Performing autopsies, Masaiti removed the skin and studied methods of preserving it. In the years that followed, he amassed a collection of about 2,000 fragments of tattooed skin and 3,000 photographs. Unfortunately, a significant part of the archive was lost during World War II.

Today, the Masaichi collection is housed in the Museum of Medical Pathology at the University of Tokyo. Only 105 fragments of human skin have survived. Some of them are full-size - like full-body suits. Fukushi himself, by the way, was not tattooed.