The History and Culture of Tattoos : A Reflection

This is very similar, once again, to a previous prompt. In this case it’s a prompt from March 20th so it’s taken 5 months for a repeat, which is not the shortest gap! I can only  repeat what I said then. I have never wanted a tattoo and I am quite baffled by the concept of deliberately inflicting pain upon myself! Three of my four children have tattoos and my youngest daughter is borderline obsessed with them! Moving away from that I thought I would look into the history and culture of the art of tattooing.

Tattoos have been around for many thousands of years and we have clear evidence that Otzi, the Iceman discovered on the Austrian border with Italy was tattooed with 61 different designs due to the mummification of his body. However, tattooing was no doubt practiced long before and possible tattoo tools have been found which can be dated to the Upper Paleolithic era which ended around 12000 years ago. Why this happened is of course completely unknown. Was it a sign of a warrior or a criminal? Both of these are understandings of people who wore tattoos from my childhood and teens. It was made clear to me that I was not to get a tattoo because that was a sign of a person who was not to be trusted unless they were ex forces according to my Dad at least.

Indigenous people around the world have long traditions of tattooing, perhaps most recognisably amongst the Pacific Islands and New Zealand Maori. In these cultures, the facial tattoos were a mark of status but this became problematic because Pakeha (Europeans) traded tattooed heads. Around the middle of the 19th century the prevalence of facial tattoos reduced, apparently as a  reaction to Pakeha desecration of their ancestors. However, in 2020 Nanaia Mahuta became New Zealand Foreign Minister with a moko kauae or facial tattoo as they began to reappear. Some non Maori commentators are antagonistic towards the facial tattoo but the younger generation are much more accepting in general.

In Japan, the history of tattoos, as in the UK, is associated with criminality and antisocial attitudes. The Yakuza famously have tattoos as a mark of their belonging, but the interesting aspect is that they only developed as that because the Meiji government in 1868 made tattoos illegal. As a result, anyone with a tattoo automatically became a criminal and therefore to survive they needed to band together. This led to the creation of the Yakuza, who would not have existed in their current form without this law. Even amongst younger people, the heavy weight of Japanese social attitudes means that tattoos are not widely seen because, for example, some Onsen will bar anyone, Japanese or Gaijin, from using the hot springs if they have a tattoo.

So, when did tattoos become mainstream, at least in the UK? David Beckham was sporting visible tattoos from the late 90s onwards and many other sports stars and singers followed suit, and in many ways this made them unremarkable to my children’s generation even if they were still unsettling to me. I first came across a teacher with visible tattoos on her arms back in 2016. I hired her because she was the best person for the job and because the students, even those from the most traditional cultures would be unlikely to be bothered by it. I reflected at the time that 10 years before this would not have been the case. My oldest children both had tattoos by this time and so did many of their friends. I guess that Gen Z saw it as a way of expressing themselves and their life journeys. I am happy to leave the ink to them!