Feminine Tribal Tattoos

Generally speaking, tribal tattoos have a masculine energy about them, given their bold, thick lines. At the same time, they are versatile and they tend to look very good on women as well. Maybe it’s the appeal of the contrast.

Over the past few years though, some tribal tattoo designs have evolved that are characteristically feminine in nature. They have the same recognizable tribal patterns, but they tend to be smaller and more self contained. A good example might be the tribal butterfly tattoo, a popular choice for an ankle or shoulder tattoo. A larger version of the tribal butterfly can also look good on the lower back. Tribal rose tattoos are also popular in many of the same locations.

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Traditional Tribal Tattoo Art

Here's an overview of tribes where tattoos played and play an important role in society:

Borneo Tattoos

Tattooing in Borneo (one of islands of Indonesia/Malaysia) is an important form of body modification. The tattoos are believed to protect against pain and diseases. The Iban, Kayan en Kenyah tribes, all headhunters, share the same style of tattoos. The Kayan used carved wood blocks or carved skulls to transfer the designs onto the skin.

Polynesian Tattoos

Polynesia is a group of over 1000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The most famous Polynesian tattoo styles are the Maori, Marquesan, Tahitian, Samoan and Hawaiian styles.

Maori Tattoos

The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. They use a form of personal identification called Ta Moko. Tattoos are used to carve the family history into the skin.

Marquesan Tattoos

The Marquesa islands are a group of islands situated in French Polynesia. The Marquesan tattoo art greatly influenced today's tattoo artists. The hands are an important tattoo spot in the Marquesan tattoo tradition, as well as the ears, the shoulders and the lips.

Hawaiian Tribal Tattoos

Like the other tribal tattoos, tattoos in Hawaii have a hidden meaning and are believed to have magical power. They are applied during a ritual ceremony. Both men and women are tattooed with motifs like triangles, squares, crescents and animals like sharks and lizards.

Celtic Tattoos

The Celtic people used to live in tribes spread over Great Britain and parts of Western Europe and were heavily tattooed. Interlacing patterns, spirals and knot work are typical for Celtic tattoos.

Native American Tattoos

Tattoos played a big role in the culture of the American Indians. They were used for identification, to give praise and to give magical powers or protection. Typical Native American tattoo designs include animals (eagles, snakes, bears), feathers and mythical creatures.

Aztec Tribal Tattoos

The Aztecs were another group of Native Americans. They lived in central America from the 13th to the 16th century and used tattoos to mark a warrior's rank and differentiate between the various tribes. Typical Aztec tattoos include gods like Quetzalcoatl and Huitilopochtili, suns and eagles.

Chinese Tribal Tattoos

The history of the Chinese tattoo is not very interesting, but there are several ethnic minorities in China with a strong tattoo tradition. The most important tribes are those of the Dai, Drung and Li.

Haida Tattoos

The Haidas are the indigenous people of the territory that lies on the west coast of North America (southeast Alaska). The people of the haida tribe decorate their objects with crests (totems) and use tattoos to represent the family crest and social status. The crests included all kinds of animals (killer whale, shark, wolf, eagle, owl) as well as the sun, the moon, clay, ...

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Celebrities With A Maori Tattoo

Here's a list of celebrities with Maori tattoos:

•Robbie Williams: celebrity with a Maori sleeve tattoo, done by Henk Schiffmacher, a Dutch tattoo artist.
•Ben Harper: singer and guitar player, has Maori tribals all over his body.
•Mike Tyson: ex-boxer with a Maori inspired tattoo on his head.

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Maori Tattoos and Non-Maoris

" By using a moko pattern for your own tattoo design, you may be insulting the Maori people. It is never ok for a non-maori to wear a Maori tattoo pattern, even if it is done with respect. "

Maori tattoo patterns and symbols are a way of personal identification for the Maori people. By copying their designs you steal a part of their identity, what the Maori see as an insult.

If you want a tattoo design in the Maori style, find a tattoo artist that has experience with Maori tattoos and knows about these issues. He can design a tattoo for you that has the looks of a moko without the Maori symbolic ties.

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Maori Tattoos Today

The Maori traditions such a tattooing lost much of its significance after the coming of European settlers. Ta moko for men stopped being popular somewhere in the middle of the 19th century. Moko for women continued throughout the 20th century.

Since the 1990s the Maori culture and traditions are having a revival and the traditional Maori tribe tattooing is all but extinct, Maori tattoos have made a comeback and are popular again, including the old tattoo equipment like chisels.

In the west, Maori-inspired tattoos are in vogue as well. Many of us appreciate the bold statement that Maori tattoo designs make, and this style of tribal tattooing is growing in popularity.

Modern Maori tattoos are usually found on the body rather than the face, and usually (but not always) modern tattoo equipment and ink are used – but the traditional ta moko inspired designs have a universal and timeless appeal.

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Modern Tribal Maori Tattoo

Maori Tattooing: The Ritual

Maori tattooing would usually start at adolescence, and was used to celebrate important events throughout life. The first tattoo marks the transition from childhood to adulthood and was done during a series of rites and rituals. Tattoo art was an important part of the Maori culture – in fact, people without tattoos were considered to be without status or worth.

Needless to say, tattooing by making incisions with a chisel was a painful process, but traditional Maori tattoos were meant to be more than decorative – they were a show of strength, courage and status. Both men and women were tattooed, though women substantially less (maybe because there was less of a need for them to show courage) and on other places (usually the lips and chin).

The process of Maori tattooing was a ritual, with music, chant and fasting – in fact, fasting was more or less a necessity, because the face would swell up from the wounds caused by the tattooing process!

The tattoo specialists in the Maori culture were usually men, although there are some women who also were tohunga ta moko (moko specialists).

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Maori Tattoos: The Legend

The precise history of the Maori tattoo is rather vague, but we do know the legendary source. According to legend, ta moko came from the underworld:



Te Puni Maori Chief
When Mataora, a young warrior, fell in love with Niwareka, the princess of the underworld, she agreed to come aboveground to marry him. When he mistreated her, however, Niwareka went back to her father’s kingdom.

Eventually, sick with guilt and with his face paint smudged, Mataora made his way down to the underworld to try to win her back. He succeeded, and Niwareka’s father taught him the art of Maori tribe tattooing as well! Mataora brought ta moko – Maori tattoos - as well as other skills he had picked up in the underworld, back with him, and the ideas caught on.

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Traditional Maori Tattoos: Ta Moko

"Maori tattoo art is different from traditional tattooing in that sense that the Maori tattoo was carved into the skin with a chisel, instead of punctured."

Ta Moko
Traditional Maori tattoos are known in the Maori language as ta moko:

•Ta moko: literally the words ta moko translate as to strike or to tap. The term refers to the process of tattooing in the Maori traditions.
•Moko: the tattoo design itself – the finished product.
The Maori tattoo consists of bold spiral designs covering the face, the buttocks and the legs of the Maori men.

Maori women were usually tattooed on the lips and chin and in some cases on the neck and the back.

Tattooing has a sacred significance – the Maori tattoo design itself, and the long and painful process of acquiring the tattoo (Maori tribe tattooing was done with bone chisels).

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Maori Tattoos

Maori tattoos are among the most distinctive tattoos in the world and have their own identity amongst the Polynesian tattoos. Tattooing is a sacred art among the Maori people of New Zealand, and probably came to them from the islands of East Polynesia.

Maori tattoo art is very beautiful, consisting of curved shapes and spirals in intricate patterns. Distinctive for Maori tattoo designs is the fact that they are based on the spiral and that they are curvilinear. The most prevalent place for a Maori tattoo was the face, probably a result of the cool New Zealand climate.



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Identifying a safe Tattoo Parlor

There are just few regulations covering tattooing other than the laws requiring that minors are not to be tattooed or in same states only with parental permission. However, every professional tattoo parlor must be licensed. This happens when all the artists in the studio qualify by completing a health department course on infectious disease transmission and pass an exam. Unfortunately businesses aren't inspected regularly and the law allows anyone to acquire a tattoo machine, get a license and start tattooing whether they have to ability to do it or not. Most reputable tattoo artists object to this situation too.

Here are just a few tips you can remember to ensure choosing a save tattoo studio:

◦Take a look around in the studio. See if the studio is clean, artists wear gloves, and the studio looks professional. That says a lot already!
◦Ask the artists questions. Ask if they have an autoclave, if the needles and other materials they are using are single use, if they are using EPA approved disinfectants and so on. If it is a legitimate parlor they will not mind answering those questions.
◦Watch the artist when applying a tattoo to be sure safety procedures are being followed.
◦Memberships in professional organizations are voluntarily but most artists do participate in one anyway. Those who participate are always better informed about safety issues and innovations.

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The Meaning Of Tattoos

The Meaning Of Dragon Tattoo

Especially the long and flexible dragon, who descends from japanese tattoo traditions, is one of the most popular tattoo motives. Due to his shape he practically fits on every part of the body. Covering full backs, winding himself around arms or coiling up on the chest of the carrier.

In the western culture the dragon, according to the snake, symbolizes evil and has to be fought therefore. Different the japanese dragon which is called Oni and stands as a symbol of luck. The japanese dragon has its roots in the chinese mythology. He was said to live in the skies and had the ability to bring out the rain which was of big importance for the rice cultivation.

The dragon reached japan as a live spending water symbol due to the close cultural connection between china and japan where he is highly honored and admired. It is important to keep him happy because after all he could easily cause a seaquake if begrudgingly. One of the most famous and most tattooed dragon legends, aside the display of the buddhistic gods of wind and thunder (Fu-jin and Rai-jin) who are riding the dragons, is the Tamatori Hime.


The Meaning Of Tribal Tattoos


The tribal designs widely used and applied nowadays go back to the black, silhouette like and geometric tatau ornaments of the polynesians. It was also tribal tattoos the sailors brought home to Europe, from their first journeys to Tahiti, before the influences of the sailors with maritime designs, the today called traditional tattoos, replaced the native motives.

The release of Tattoo Time, a tattoo magazine founded in 1982 by the american innovator Don Ed Hardy and Leo Zulueta started an amazing tribal tattoo boom. The title of the first issue was "New Tribalism" and it features native tattoos from Samoa and Borneo. From there on the tattoo scene re-discovered tribal designs as a tattoo style. Not only that, the black and gently swinging style of tribal weakened the negative associations made with tattoos in the years before. Only after half a year the black designs were among the most popular motive choices and tribal is still one of the most popular tattoo styles today.

There are a lot of tattoo artists who refuse to tattoo simple tribal because of the widely spread believe a tribal is not very challenging for the artist. This is not true. Tribal patterns should always be applied correctly, along the musculature and single muscle parts of the body and should come across as a grown part of the body. The colouring should also be very even and this is not the easiest to do.

The Meaning Of Celtic Tattoos


The Celts, inhabitants of Northern Britain which is called Caledonia, glorified the power of live and it's creators in which the male and the female principles were both equal and in harmony. For the Celts, live itself was the driving power in the universe. The power that reveals the highest wisdom and everything divine in it's varieties. Death just played a subordinated role. It was just a short interruption in the forever ongoing and always changing cycle of life.

Therefore typical celtic tattoos are devoured ornaments, complicated and twisted knots and spiral motives mostly done in black. Those symbols demanded a very high understanding of mathematics and geometry and were used by the irish monks in the early middle ages, from the 4th until about the 10th century after christ, for drawings in books and they were also found on monuments. Monuments made out of stone like the so called celtic crosses.

Faithful to the celtic believe the celtic cross symbolizes the unity of the opposite spheres. Up and down for heaven and earth and left and right for male and female. And the circle, the perfectly closed form and the divine symbol for the forever ongoing cycle, underlining this union.

The Meaning Of Japanese Tattoos


The most used japanese tattoo motives with an explanation of their meanings.

Hannya Masks
Against the wide-spread opinion Hannya Masks do not have anything to do with the devil or Satan. There is a concept of a hell in the Japanese Buddhism, but Hannyas are terrestrial monsters. Confused human feelings like passion, jealousy or hate can transform women into these dreadful monsters. In the classic Nô-Theatre of Japan, where the as drafts often used Hannya masks descended from, stories of such female demons are told, who can only be released of their inhuman shape over the way to Buddha.

Kiyo Hime
The best known story of a Hannya demon is the one from Kiyo Hime. Her father owned a harborage in which a monk stopped each year. Over the years Kiyo Hime developed a deep love to the monk but her feelings could not be returned by him. One night Kiyo Hime confessed her love to him and it came to a controversy between the two of them and in which process Kiyo Hime enraged and the monk had to escape. He found shelter in a close monastery and hid himself under an enormous bell. In the meantime, in the intoxication of its hate love, Kiyo Hime had transformed into a demon with the body of a snake and a Hannya head. It sought out the monks hiding place and melted the bell with its fire breath, thereby causing the object of its longing a painful death.

Kannon
Kannon is a Bodhisattva of the Mahayana Buddhism. The task of the Bodhisattva is it to support humans on their way to illumination. There are Bodhisattva with several different tasks. Kannon is the Bodhisattva of sympathy and pity. In Japan Kannon is represented by a woman, usually riding a dragon. while in India, the country of origin of Buddhism, Kannon is represented by a male.

Fudô Myôô
In the buddhist hierarchy the Môôs stand under the Bodhisattva. They are also protectors of the Buddhism but in the contrary to the gentle Bodhisattva rather martial due to their armament. The most popular Myôô as a tattoo motive is Fudô Myôô, the imperturbable one. He is also considered the guard of hell and a knowledge king and is always displayed with a rope, with which he binds evil, and a sword, with which he fights Buddhism enemies.

Dragons
The best known japanese motive is the dragon, for sure. In Japan it is regarded as a luck bringing animal. This may be justified due to the fact that the japanese dragon is a water symbol. He lives either in the clouds, from where he climbs down during thunderstorms, or also in rivers and lakes. It stands for an element which was of an enormous importance for the rice cultivation rice in Japan. Therefore dragons are highly respected and admired in Japan and weren't fought like in european tales for instance.

Kois
In Japan, a koi jumping or swimming up a waterfall is a symbol of strength, the ability to assert oneself and success. As a phallic symbol it stands for male strength and power.

Tamatori Hime
The legend tells that Tamatori Hime once stole the king of the underwater world who was an enormous dragon his most valuable possession, a precious bead. In order to swim faster on her escape, Tamatori Hime cut herself and hid the bead in her own body. Although she found her way ashore, she died on her injuries becoming a victim of her own greed.

Tigers
Although there were never any tigers living in Japan, this majestic looking motive found its way into the forming arts of Japan really early. Drafts for Japanese pictures of these sovereign and at the same time strength defying animals were probably tigers who were introduced from India. The same as carps and dragons the tiger as a tattoo motive primarily is a symbol of strength and power.

Suikoden Warriors
In an ancient Chinese novel, which was was translated into Japanese in the middle of the 18. Century under the title Suikoden (Stories of the Beach), it is told from 108 rebels who carried some tattoos. The illustrations of many different Japanese artists to the adventures of these brigands were used as tattoo flash. Especially the color woodcut series of Utagawa Kuniyoshi was gladly used which was published by the artist in the year 1827.

Snakes
In Japan the snake is also considered an animal with a negative character, although the association between snake and sin, biblically justified with us, is naturally missing there. When applying a full body suit a good Japanese tattoo artist attends to combine snakes only with designs of blossoms which actually bloom at the seasons in which snakes do not hold their winter sleep.

by: tattoojoy.com