Under My Skin. The Evolution Of The HumbleTattoo.

The prolonged lockdowns and quarantines over the past year have spurred me on to re-visit old scribbles and  I have done my best to make them better. This is one written in Japan in 2019.

Hidden away in a modest apartment in Gifu, central Japan, 79-year-old tattoo artist Horihide (meaning to carve) is meticulously preparing his tools. Over the decades this supreme master of the art of the hand tattoo has been plying his trade, inking the bodies of Yakuza members, geishas and several members of the Japanese royal family.

Today he will begin work on a client who has waited an astonishing 32 years for an appointment and has flown in from California to have the work done by arguably one of the best in the business!

Horihide will have studied the client’s proposed design for months before agreeing to perform the work. The process from start to finish will take up to three months before he will be satisfied with the final result.

Over the last couple of decades, the art of tattooing has t exploded across the globe, especially among the 18 – 35 year age group, to the point where more than one-fifth of the adult population of Great Britain has decided to adorn their bodies with images that are personal expressions of individualism.

Once the preserve of sailors, bikers and assorted deviants, tattooing has now definitely gone mainstream.

Hardly a week goes by when we see celebrities sporting their latest tattoo evoking a rallying cry with erudite quotes inked onto their bodies. Think Angelina Jolie, David Beckham and Robbie Williams to name but a few.

It’s Not Just Skin Deep.

The art of tattooing has been around for millenniums as we discovered when the neanderthal “iceman’ was found entombed inside a glacier on the Italian/ Austrian border. Once scientists and archaeologists had thawed him out elaborate tattooed designs were found covering his chest, back and the knuckles of both hands.

Later carbon dating revealed that this man had died some 5,500 years ago meaning the practice of adorning one’s body with images obviously had been practised for ‘quite some time.’

In Indonesia, tattooing arrived in Kalimantan ( Borneo) about the 13th century ago where Dayak nation adopted the practice thought to have migrated south from the Yunnan Province in China.

Tattoos were initially the preserve of men and many of the designs often symbolized the taking of heads. IOn some of my travels across the highlands of Sarawak I encountered wizened old men who proudly showed me the knuckles of their hands which displayed crude skulls inked into the skin, each one bearing testament to how many heads had been taken.

Today in Kayaan, tattooing is mainly the preserve of the women who adorn their bodies with intricate designs that are breathtakingly beautiful. They follow the traditional application method of applying the inks using a thin bamboo shoot,  filed to a shark delicate point which is ‘hammered’ into the skin with a small mallet. The end results can be breathtakingly beautiful.

The English word Tattoo actually comes from the Tahitian, ‘tatu’ where the practice of skin art originated across the South Pacific. The trend spread quickly to other South Sea Islands, and men in Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand adopted the practice before the practice weaved its way up into Indonesia’s Southern Archipelago.

In many western societies, the tattoo was considered to be barbaric as it was perceived that only criminals were tattooed. In the 18h century, Europe and the UK‘s prison guards applied crude tattoos to the faces of the incarcerated inking amateur designs across their foreheads or cheeks detailing the crimes they had committed forever destined to wear their shame for all to see.

Over time the tattoo as ‘art’ began to gain traction amongst even the elite of several societies. Marco Polo on his travels through northern Asia observed that “ many come from as far afield as India, travelling to China to have their bodies painted with the needle”.

In Samoa, the tattoo is still sacred amongst men coming of age, where the skin from above the waist to below the knees is fully inked. This is known as Pe’a and is applied over many months using traditional methods of application such as a sharpened turtle shell or a bone from a small animal. A half completed tattoo on a Samoan man is a mark of shame as it shows that the recipient was not able to complete the design and did not pay the artist.

Needles And Sins.

So,  what is it today that makes one contemplate enduring intense pain in order to make a bold statement on one’s body that will accompany them to the grave?

Walk down any main street or gang in Bali and around every corner will be a tattoo parlour ready to apply any given design on whatever part of the anatomy you choose.

Rebelliousness?  A rush of blood to the head? Too many tequilas consumed at that last bar? Whatever the reason it seems that the stream of customers heading to tattooists is certainly not decreasing.

I recently visited an old friend, Apel Hendrawan, renowned Balinese author, artist and tattoo artist who let me sit in on a session or two where he was applying an intricate design to the shoulders of a Dutch tourist who had travelled from Amsterdam especially to have work done.

There is a unique skill in applying a complex design to living flesh as there is absolutely no room for error! The delicate movement of the needle, applying the myriad of colours can and does take decades to perfect.

Tattoos will always be with us and, even if the trend dies off in the next few years, those discreet and not so discreet statements of one’s individuality will be on show for many years to come.

There still exists a stigma associated with ‘getting a tat “ as if one has slipped down the food chain and joined the ranks of the criminal deviants or the ‘lower classes.”

Not so.

Its an individual choice as Clementine, wife of Winston Churchill once said when at a social gathering pulled up her sleeve to reveal a multi coloured tattoo of a coiled snake that twisted up the inside of her left arm.

In order to make this article a little more authentic coupled with a rush of blood to the head, I felt I had to give it a whirl! and so without a thought, I hopped into Apel’s chair, rested my arm on a pedestal and watched while he applied a phrase in Balinese Sanskrit to my inner arm. (It reads; “not all who wander are lost”. A line from Tolkien’s wonderful Lord Of The Rings.)

I did think I was being rather clever in choosing this particular phrase given my current status as a travel writer. A few months later on the island of Sulawesi, I came across a store specialising in outdoor goods which is now part of a large chain whose catchphrase is, “ not all who wander are lost”

The comments regarding my tattoo, or advertising slogan, call it what you want are varied but, too bad, for it is there for as long as I tread this earth so I, and everybody else will simply have to live with it.

Do I regret it? Not really, for at this stage of my life, regrets are something I leave at the door along with my shoes.

Osaka, Japan 2019

Paul v Walters is the best selling author of several novels and anthologies of short stories. When not cocooned in sloth and procrastination in his house in Bali he occasionally rises to scribble for numerous international travel and vox pop journals.

www.paulvwalters.net">www.paulvwalters.net