Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

11 Introduction
for example, Kayan women were given ornate leg and arm tattoos
often depicting traditional, stylized dog designs. Covering the arm
below the elbow was particularly important since an undecorated
arm was seen as a sign of cowardice-the indiVidual was unable
to endure pain. Among the Shan of the Society Islands, untattooed
young men were regarded as immature since they did not
yet have the courage to withstand the painful process. Tattooists
encouraged the young recipient to be brave with the admonition,
"If you wriggle too much people will think you are only a little boy"
(Hambly, 1974 [1925): 204-205; cf. Vlahos, 1979: 182-196).
Tattooing typically also had religious or magical purposes, often
proViding a means of identification or protection in the afterlife.
In Fiji, women who died without tattoos were believed to be
beaten by spirits of other women and served as food for the gods
(Hambly, 1974 [1925): 55). The spirits of women of Long Glat in
Borneo were assigned tasks after death based on the extensiveness
of their tattOOing. The most heavily tattooed could gather
pearls in the heavenly river, while those who died with partial decorations
could watch, and those who were untattooed were excluded
altogether (Paine, 1979: 42). In addition to assuring
immortality or improVing one's chances of enjoying a pleasant afterlife,
tattOOing in tribal cultures was often believed to insure the
bearer's good luck; to help charm members of the opposite sex; to
protect one from accident; to preserve youth; and to bring good
health. Women of nomadic tribes in Yemen and the Maghreb, for
example. still practice facial and hand tattooing intended to have
prophylactic or therapeutic functions. The markings protect the
bearer from eye diseases, insure fertility, and bring good fortune
(Thevoz. 1984: 69-70; see also Hambly. 1974 [1925]: 109-170).
As a decorative art form. tattooing was, and continues to be.
practiced most beautifully and with greatest skill in Japan. Clay
figurines (haniwa) found in a grave mound near Osaka and dated
from the fifth century B.C. show clear facial marks believed to be
tattoos that performed decorative, religious. or status-display
functions. This early form of tattooing appears to have died out by
the fifth century A.D. The practice revived in thirteenth century
Japan largely as a means of marking criminals and other social
undeSirables. Criminals were tattooed with symbols indicating