|
The practice of
tattooing began as a form of art of the
ancient natives. Chinese archaeologists have
found that many of the statues from the
Neolithic age (also known as the 'New Stone
Age') have tattooed heads. Many of these
statues and sculptures uncovered were from
the 'Ma Jia Yao' area (which is now the
Chinese province of Gan Su) and the tattoos
can be said to have evolved into today's
Thai Buddhist tattoos.
On top of that,
archaeologists also found records of
tattooing practices, rituals and samples on
Oracle Bone Script ('Jia Gu Wen') in the
tombs of the Shang Dynasty. This means that
tattooing began from as early as the
earliest BC years!
Many ancient
rulers, including 1 of China's most famous
Kings of all time, King Gou Jian of the
Kingdom of Yue, the man behind the famous
idiom of 'sleeping on sticks
and tasting gall' ('Wo Xin Chang Dan') is
found to have made a hobby out of tattooing.
|
Why did
the ancient rulers 'fall in love' with tattooing?
It is
recorded in the famous Chinese classical text, the
Classic of Rites ('Li Ji'), at Chapter 5: Royal
Regulations ('Wang Zhi Pian'), that people from Japan,
the provinces of Guang Dong, Fukien, and Chao Zhou all
enjoyed tattooing. It is further stated that these
people who bore tattoos would prove to be especially
good, courageous and strong fighters. That must have
been very attractive to people of the other countries or
provinces, and especially to the rulers, who would have
loved to be the strongest and courageous men alive.
There are
numerous records of tattooing in history.
Zhuang Zi
records in his classical text named after him, atChapter
1: Wandering Beyond ('Xiao Yao You), that in the Song
Dynasty there lived men like Zi Zhang and Fu Shi, from
the Kingdom of Yue, and these men bore tattoos. In the
Chronicles of the Warring States ('Zhan Guo Ce'), it is
stated that most of the strong men of Yue bore tattoos.
Mo Zi, in his classical text named after him, says that
even the King of Yue, Gou Jian, the epitomy of courage
and perseverance, even after he became King, was still a
'fashionable' man. He followed the 'trend' of his time
and not only cut his hair short, but wore religious
tattoos as well.
But
the most detailed records and descriptions of the early
history of tattooing come from the admirable traveler
Marco Polo.
In his
Il Milione, he records observing men being tattooed
in the mountains of what we now call the Yunnan province
of China. The tattoos would be hand-pricked in black
'lines' made on their arms and legs. The tattooist used
a 1-meter long pole with the tip shaved into a pointy
spike. Every 5 'pricks' formed 1 'point' and each prick
would cause a tiny little red dot of blood to surface on
the skin. This is repeated to form a design or image.
Using a type of black 'dye', applying it onto the points
very slowly with a long pointy stick, the tattoo is then
completed and became permanent.
Such
tattoos served as decorations, symbols of ultimate power
and also talismans to ward off bad luck and evil. Marco
Polo later found out from them that they are from an
ancient 'Tai Yi' nomad tribe and from his own studying
he noticed that they were a very 'powerful' group of
people who could cast spells to work 'miracles'. Healing
powers and exceptional prowess in fighting were but 2 of
these 'miracles'.
back to
top |
