History Of Tattoos Of The Great Asian Cultures

 

ASIAN TATTOOS HAVE A RICH HISTORY

art by Jared Preslar

Tattooing in Asian culture can be dated back as far as 3,000 BC which can be seen represented on clay figurines and statues in the form of etched designs and paintings on the faces of the figures in Japan. It's an art form that has been celebrated for thousands of years.

Mummies found in early China have been discovered with tattoos on the face, and were attributed to the Dulong and Dai tribes. Women wore these facial tattoos as a means to become less desirable to men who would otherwise do them harm. Other beliefs were that some of these facial markings were done for mystical and ritualistic reasonings. In modern times, descendants of these people still bear these same type of facial markings, but their meanings have changed. They are now a rite of passage, a status symbol and represent beauty.

In China, quasi-modern tattooing can be seen as early as the Shang Dynasty, where some of the different peoples of the region began to cut their hair and give themselves tattoos to gain acceptance of the more prominent groups in the area.

This changed, however with the rise of Confucianism, where it was said that your body, including your hair and skin, came from your ancestors and it wasn't yours to inflict harm upon, which included cutting your hair or applying marks upon the skin. It was viewed as disrespectful to both your ancestors and your mother and father to cut your hair or get tattoos. This is where the notion that suicide is a sin is believed to have originated, as it was the ultimate act of self harm.

Later in China, tattoos were used as a means to mark criminals permanently, known as 'Ci Pei', which loosely translates as exile/tattoo. Even today in modern China, the connection between tattoos and criminals are viewed as one and the same. 

In Japan, there is also that connection, mainly due to the heavily tattooed bodies of the well known criminal organization known as Yakuza. Fortunately, however, many still attribute tattoos as a form of art, and that people other than criminals have them. Historically, tattoos have always been a part of their culture, and there is no sign that will ever change.

In the Philippines, the story is completely different. The history of their elaborate and beautiful body art is a rite of passage, station in society, a sign of bravery and a status symbol. Early Spanish conquistadors, upon exploring the Asian islands, took note of these 'painted men', also named 'Pintados', depicting them in drawings and paintings to share upon their return to Spain. Traditional Philippine tattoos look like a combination of Maori, Polynesian and Incan/Aztec designs. This would make sense, since historians believe that all these cultures originated from the same place. 

Korean culture, regarding tattoos, was and is very much like China's. Early on, tattoos were a means of expression. However, they became a symbol of a person being a criminal. Your crime would be tattooed directly on your face so that you couldn't hide what you had done from society. Everyone was allowed to know exactly what you were guilty of. Escaped prisoners would get a very large tattoo on the forehead as a way to single them out as trouble makers. If you escaped again, it meant death. In today's Asian society, the taboo of tattoos still exists, and are even blurred or blocked out from being viewable on television, movies and print media. 

Much like the Norse Vikings, it is believed that the Mongols, who were lead by the vicious conquerer Genghis Khan, adorned themselves with tattoos to appear more threatening to strike fear in those they meant to conquer. 

As society progresses past the puritan style of thinking, more and more people, even those in the more oppressed regions, are becoming more accepting of tattoos in their culture. Most people realize that a tattoo doesn't equal to criminality or outcast, this includes the mindset in Asian society. 

Today, people from all around the globe enjoy getting Asian inspired tattoos. The colorful and bold designs created by the Tebori artists in Japan are very popular. Images from Asian culture, such as koi fish, oni/hannya masks and cherry blossom trees continue to dominate the imagery people like to have tattooed on their bodies. A rise in the desire for anime style tattoos has grown steadily for years, celebrating popular characters from this other art form.

Asian cultures are rich in beautiful art and history. It should be celebrated and appreciated and preserved for posterity for future generations to enjoy.

Beautiful Cherry Blossoms by Leah

Why You Should Treat Yourself To A New Tattoo

 

SO, WHY SHOULD YOU TREAT YOURSELF?

art by Leah Pinkerton

Tattoos, at least good tattoos, can be expensive. Treat yourself! It's understandable trying to justify getting yourself a new tattoo. You may feel guilty spending that kind of money on yourself, but you shouldn't. A tattoo isn't something you should get buyer's remorse over, (mainly because you can't return it.) Hopefully, we can help you, through reasoning, to not feel that way and to KNOW why you deserve a new tattoo!

Believe it or not, but there are many people out there that have a really hard time spending money on themselves. They're not greedy, they usually are the type of person that spends their money on others. However, when it comes to themselves, even buying themself new shoes may be difficult for them to justify, regardless on how badly they may need them. That mindset is often linked to being a co-dependent, but that's a whole other article. 

Fortunately, there are some ways you can get around these feelings and to help you move past it so that you can enjoy the good things in life, such as a new tattoo. 

• Take the Stuart Smalley™ approach! Tell yourself that you're "good enough, smart enough and gosh darn it, people like you."
• Take mental stock on what you've done for yourself lately. Treating yourself to things you want is psychologically important to see and enjoy the fruits of your labor from the work you do for a living.
• Doing something you love can be a stress reliever and helps aid in overcoming depression. 
• Use it as a means to celebrate a recent accomplishment such as a job promotion/raise/bonus, a new baby, etc.
• Treat yourself by reaching a new milestone health related, such as losing weight, quitting or cutting back on drinking or smoking, you ran 5 miles for the first time, etc. Doing things for yourself for these achievements is a great motivator and can help keep you on track for further accomplishments!
• Celebrate a strengthened relationship such as getting married/engaged or to commemorate a longterm friendship. Matching tattoos are not considered tacky for most cases and are a fun way to celebrate such things.
• Get tattooed to celebrate and commemorate an event. A good example of this is when the original cast of the fellowship for LoTR all got matching tattoos for the grand adventure and experience they all shared. Perhaps you and a friend climbed Mt Everest together, celebrate that with a tattoo of the peak with the date (and probably a beer)! 
• You just need something new that's just for you. Sometimes something new in your life is a great way to give yourself a boost! Occasionally that little boost is just what any of us needs to help us leap forward.
• Maybe you've been thinking about a memorial tattoo for a while now. There's not better time than the present to treat yourself by honoring another person or even a pet.
• Celebrate your heritage! A very popular tattoo to get is something that celebrates your roots. A family crest. Celtic knot work. Intricate Norse tattoos. Your native countries flag. 
• You're in a rut and a new tattoo may help you get out of that funk. Getting that fresh tattoo may motivate you to go out and enjoy the night life, giving you a solid reason to show off the new art! This way, you treat yourself double! Not a bad thing!

The Importance Of Researching Your New Tattoo 2023

 

art by Leah Pinkerton

Researching your tattoo can be more important than you may realize. Sometimes a person wants a particular symbol, or something in another language, or a collection of images as a tattoo. Perhaps you are looking to get some historically traditional tribal work done. The symbolic nature of tattoos can be different than what you expect. You may want to spend a little time researching what you are looking to get so that you don't accidentally get a tattoo that means something completely different than what you want to express. 

Regarding another language, these are the most common to get messed up. One sure fire way to avoid mistakes is to show a native speaker of the language what you are looking to get and ask them if they would mind translating it for you. If what they say pretty much matches what you intended, then you're good to go. However, if you are looking for the Kanji for "Courage" and the translator says it means "Ham Sandwich", you may want to research again. Finding a native speaker may be a little difficult in some circumstances, so reverse image searches in Google can often times help alleviate that problem. It just takes a little patience.

Another tricky one can be traditional tribal work, particularly Polynesian. You may not be aware, but each little symbol, line, angle and so on means something. You could very easily get your Polynesian sleeve done, sat many hours in the chair and spent a lot of money just to have a piece that means absolutely nothing, or worse, means something completely unintended. Researching these meanings can be crucial and it's a good idea to find an artist that has done their own research and knows what they are doing.

What if your sleeve symbolizes that you are a criminal? An outcast? Or of the opposite gender? There are many possible things that tattoo could translate to, to someone familiar with it's symbolism. It's best to see an artist that knows the meaning, to actually give you your tattoo (as it happens to be, we have one here at Lucky Bamboo!). 

Sometimes someone will see a symbol somewhere either online or on someone else and decide they want to get the same thing. Understandable, you see something you like, and you want it. However, maybe you should still do a little research into it. This reminds us of a situation where a guy saw a tattoo on his rescue dog and thought out of solidarity with his new friend, he would get the same thing. It ended up being the symbol for "neutered". Others have gotten symbols or lettering only to find out later on that it was something racist. There was someone that got two squared off "lightning bolts", and found out it was actually the Nazi "SS" symbol. 

Most people would probably be shocked to learn that got something that offensive without intention. If that were to happen, sometimes a cover-up on that tattoo is your only option to save yourself embarrassment on your mistake. 

The symbolic nature of our tattoos can be quite personal and important. Think of memorial tattoos. Whether for a loved one or a lost pet, we want to make sure that everything in that tattoo is perfect and how you envisioned it from the beginning. It can just be important as a portrait tattoo, which no artists should try and tackle without 100 percent confidence in their ability to make sure you can do it perfectly. 

As you can see, knowing what you are looking to get done can be very important to the message you intend to send. It's a good idea to spend a little time researching so that you can avoid mistakes and need a cover-up. Researching is key!

How To Save Up For Your Tattoo

Do you have a tattoo that you really want, but just don't have the funds at the moment? You're not alone. Don't stress though, we'll share some money saving tips for you that will add up surprisingly very quickly! Of course you can apply this to other aspects of your life, but hey, that new tattoo is a priority, so let's take care of that first!

There are a bunch of ways to save up small amounts of money nearly every day for most people. Here are some tips and tricks!

• Instead of getting a large coffee at Starbucks, get a large coffee at your local convenience store. That will save you on average $2-3 each day. Better yet, brew it at home.
• Instead of buying a bottle of water, fill up a refillable bottle at pretty much any soda fountain for free. That, depending on water brand, can be $1-3. 
• If you use a food delivery service app frequently, or even daily, cut it back one day or more per week. Depending on what you get delivered and how much you averagely tip, that could amount to $20+ per day you cut out. If you insist on take out, go pick it up yourself and save yourself the fees and tip. 
• If you really want to save fast, go back to the college trick and live off Top Ramen and PBJ sandwiches for a couple of weeks. That could amount to hundreds, depending on how you spend now. Your diet will be temporarily bland (and loaded with sodium), but you will be much closer to having the money for your tattoo. You can always resume your original diet afterwards. 
• Buy generic brands. For example, the name brand is nearly always twice as much as the generic or house brand of nearly the exact same thing. This can go for most things that offer an alternate to a big name brand. Get creative!
• If you go out a lot, to bars, clubs, shows or whatever, trim it back a little. A good night out at a club can easily cost $60+. Another way to help in this way is to go at "happy hour".
• Cut back on both drinking and smoking, not only for your wallet, but your health. We're not here to preach, you do what makes you happy, but cutting back even by 25% a week can add up financially quite a bit depending on your personal habits. 
• If you have basic cable, buy a Roku box for $40 and shut off your cable. Roku offers hundreds of channels that you don't pay anything for after you buy the box. There's even a 24/7 Bob Ross channel!
• Look for stuff at thrift stores. If you go to thrift stores near more so-called "upperclass" neighborhoods, you can often find high quality stuff for really cheap. It's actually quite surprising on some of the things you can find. For example, nearly brand new authentic Ray Ban sunglasses for $3. Still brand new tagged Levi jeans for $8. And so on.
• De-clutter your home and sell off stuff of value that you never use. There are many online market places and also probably local options of ways to sell off old stuff, such as a yard sale. Depending on what you have, you may unknowingly have some valuable treasure lying around. One of the best sources of this are older, no longer available video games. Some of these games go for several hundreds of dollars, if unopened, you could be looking at thousands.
• If you have old gold jewelry that you don't care about, that's a very quick way to make some cash. If you want to just scrap it, go to an actual local refinery and NOT a "cash for gold" place. You will get significantly more money. If it's quality jewelry that is not to be scrapped, do NOT take it to a pawn shop. You will get pennies on the dollar and you won't get much. Sell that stuff on a market place. Watch out for con artists that want to "wire" you the money and have you send the item. If you find a buyer, for safety reasons, insist that you make the transaction somewhere very public, or ideally a police station. Most police stations are ok with this being done outside their building, but you still may want to check in with them. If the buyer won't meet you with this criteria, it's likely a scam or someone looking to just take it from you.
• Commit to putting 5-10% of your paycheck in a savings account, if you are able. 
• Avoid impulse buys. Nearly any retail establishment has their "impulse items" located right at the checkout because they know at least some of the customers will buy the stuff. Ignore those items and only buy what you intended to purchase. Printed magazines are the biggest culprit. If you have a cell phone, pretty much anything in those magazines are already available to you.
• Staycations can save tons of money and can actually be less stressful than a trip somewhere. Of course, exploring the world is wonderful and should be done, but if you don't need to go, you can probably enjoy outdoor activities locally, such as hiking or bike riding or whatever. Sometimes a week or two being home can be just what you need to relax and recharge.
• Try not to buy too much stuff at convenience stores. A pint of Ben & Jerry's at the grocery store for $5 is $8-10 at the convenience store. 

This is just a short example of ways for you to quickly save up money for that tattoo you really want and to overall build up a healthy savings account for future tattoos!