A Brief History of My Tattoo

Tattoo is a permanent pigmentation of the skin resulting from the introduction of exogenous substances. If this happens unintentionally—for example, after road.
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The Ainu people of western Asia used tattooing to show social status. Girls coming of age were marked to announce their place in society, as were the married women.

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The Ainu are noted for introducing tattoos to Japan where it developed into a religious and ceremonial rite. In Borneo, women were the tattooists. It was a cultural tradition. They produced designs indicating the owners station in life and the tribe he belonged to. Kayan women had delicate arm tattoos which looked like lacy gloves. Dayak warriors who had "taken a head" had tattoos on their hands. The tattoos garnered respect and assured the owners status for life. Polynesians developed tattoos to mark tribal communities, families, and rank.

They brought their art to New Zealand and developed a facial style of tattooing called Moko which is still being used today. There is evidence that the Mayan, Incas, and Aztecs used tattooing in the rituals. Even the isolated tribes in Alaska practiced tattooing, their style indicating it was learned from the Ainu. In the west, early Britons used tattoos in ceremonies.

A Short History of Tattoo

The Danes, Norse, and Saxons tattooed family crests a tradition still practiced today. In AD, Pope Hadrian banned tattooing. It still thrived in Britain until the Norman Invasion of The Normans disdained tattooing. It disappeared from Western culture from the 12th to the 16th centuries. While tattooing diminished in the west, it thrived in Japan. At first, tattoos were used to mark criminals. First offenses were marked with a line across the forehead.

A second crime was marked by adding an arch. A third offense was marked by another line. Together these marks formed the Japanese character for "dog". It appears this was the original "Three strikes your out" law. In time, the Japanese escalated the tattoo to an aesthetic art form. The Japanese body suit originated around as a reaction to strict laws concerning conspicuous consumption.

Only royalty were allowed to wear ornate clothing. As a result of this, the middle class adorned themselves with elaborate full body tattoos. A highly tattooed person wearing only a loin cloth was considered well dressed, but only in the privacy of their own home. William Dampher is responsible for re-introducing tattooing to the west. He was a sailor and explorer who traveled the South Seas.


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He was put on exhibition , a money making attraction, and became the rage of London. It had been years since tattoos had been seen in Europe and it would be another years before tattooing would make it mark in the West. In the late s, Captain Cook made several trips to the South Pacific. The people of London welcomed his stories and were anxious to see the art and artifacts he brought back. Returning form one of this trips, he brought a heavily tattooed Polynesian named Omai.

The trade in prisoners who had been abducted by enemy tribes according to their custom caused tattoo designs to spread over large areas. Men of Borneo and Micronesia collected tattoos when visiting other tribes or islands. The original meanings of many tattoos are lost.

A brief history of the tattoo coverup – Timeline

However, body decorations such as scarification, tattoos and piercings have always been an obvious means of distinguishing individuals within a group, and groups within a society. Historically and culturally tattoos have been applied both as marks of distinction awarded for an achievement or signifying the transition to adulthood and sources of shame when applied punitively. Pain is an unavoidable aspect of tattooing and to many peoples its endurance was intrinsic to initiation.


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  • A Brief History of Tattoos.

    • At a tribal level, tattoos can indicate age, marital status, power and class, and outside the group they may distinguish friend from foe. Indigenous tattooing has all but disappeared globally, but in recent years tattoos have experienced something of a renaissance in Europe and North America. The reasons for this are not clear-cut but it is apparent that tattooing in the ancient world has many things in common with modern tattooing. Skin opens at Wellcome Collection on 10 June If you want to find out more about the history of tattooing, The World of Tattoo is a great place to start.

    A brief history of the tattoo coverup

    Also see Vanishing Tattoo , an online tattoo museum focusing on the search for the last authentic tattoos. Be the first to know about our upcoming exhibitions, events and other activities, with extra options for youth, schools and access events.

    Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4. My next post will look at this and the contemporary fascination of tattoos in more depth. Stay connected with email updates from Wellcome Collection Be the first to know about our upcoming exhibitions, events and other activities, with extra options for youth, schools and access events.