Last weekend, a friend and I visited the Asia Culture Center for their exhibit on Asian tattoos titled Tattooed Asia. It showcased the history, meaning, and styles of various tattoos found throughout Asia. Links to the event center and event itself are above, it goes until June 24th and has free admission so if you are in the area, check it out 😀
Asia Culture Center
Introduction to Tattooed Asia
This exhibition examines the culture and history of tattoos from the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan.
The Exhibit started with a brief history of tattoos from other areas of the world. The first being this Maori tattoo mask.
The Maori people are the indigenous people of New Zealand.
Thailand
Taiwan
Taiwan is particularly fascinating because of their hand tattoos. Basically the bigger and more intricate the tattoo, the higher position in society it shows.
The Philippines
Whereas the indigenous people of Taiwan are nearly extinct along with their tattoo culture. In the Philippines, the technique for giving their tattoos rest in one woman, Whang od Oggay.
This is Whang od Oggay, she turned 100 in 2017 and is the only living traditional tattooist in the area. People from all over the world come to receive tattoos from her. I hope that she can teach her technique before passing on though.
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Japan
After the last section, I was told not to take photos.....uhm....oops 🤗 I am providing a link to another blog about Japanese tattoos. What I can remember from the exhibit is there were two styles of tattoos.
One of them showcased the 'perfect man' and was thought to be beautiful on men, usually these tattoos involved samurai. The other showed work or class status, such as fishing hunting or gardening. The Japanese possession of colored inks allowed for beautiful tattoos.
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Despite the government trying to outlaw tattoos, foriengers were able to get tattoos and spread the popularity of Japanese tattoos. Today, I am sure you are most familiar with Japanese tattoos than any other style that I have mentioned earlier.
That was my experience of the tattoo exhibit. Let me know what your favorite style is below or let me know any other tattoo style or history that you think is interesting 😀
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