The Hawaiian Tattoo

Hawaiian tattoos (kakau) are intriguing, tribally exotic, ancient in origin, enigmatic, culturally meaningful, mysterious, evocative, and eye-catching. They are worn by persons from all walks of lifekumu hula, dancers, chanters, athletes, educators, artists, and security officers. Here is valuable information compiled by Hawaiian culture researcher and educator, P.F. Kwiatkowski, that explores many aspects of Hawaiian tattooingits origins, significance of designs, and their relation to religion, magic, social status, and personal expression. The information delivered is concise and helps dispel some misconceptions regarding the meaning of Hawaiian motifs and the differences between Hawaiian and Polynesian tattoo designs and placement. You will learn the what and why of the usage and the significance of the designs.

"Anthropologist and tattooist Tricia Allen has harnessed centuries of knowledge about Hawaiian tattoos and has created this fascinating, comprehensive reference book that can be enjoyed by both tattoo enthusiasts and cultural scholars. Tattoo Traditions of Hawaii describes the evolution of Hawaiian tattooing as an art and science tracing it from its early roots in ancient Polynesia; presents motif, meaning, placement, tools and techniques along with personal observations and commentary in meticulous and graphic detail; discusses contemporary Hawaiian tattooing within the context of contact with the Western world; and includes drawings of designs and patterns for ideas and consideration"--Publisher's description.

"This collection of amazing photos attests to the high level of artistic achievement and technical ability of the Polynesian people today, as well as nonislanders who have been heavily influenced by the art of the Pacific."---Ed Hardy --Book Jacket.

Evocative and symbolic designs based on the ancient tradition of Polynesian tattoo art. The beauty of Polynesian art is perhaps most evident in the tradition of Polynesian tattooing, which has existed for more than two thousand years and is infused with rich symbolism and spiritual meaning. Roberto Gemori designs tattoos reflecting this tradition, drawing from each person’s own history of personal struggles, adversities, and triumphs. In his approach to tattoo art, Gemori takes the meaningful moments of a person’s life story and weaves them into a creative design, such that the tattoo itself becomes a form of personal empowerment, representing qualities a person is working to cultivate in their life and challenges they have overcome. The author presents here modern tattoo designs inspired by Polynesian art to color and contemplate for inspiration and transformation. In addition to a short introduction on Polynesian art and symbolism, the book features 42 designs for coloring, each accompanied by a description of the image’s unique meaning. Color these stunning designs and discover the depth of Polynesian art!

Fundamentals of Traditional and Modern Polynesian Tattoo, is the result of a two-year labor of love from tattoo artist and author, Roland Pacheco. With over 660 illustrations, photographs and diagrams, and over 175 defined motifs, painstakingly researched and documented, Fundamentals of Traditional and Modern Polynesian Tattoo is not only a book for tattoo artists, but one that anyone interested in the art form of tattoo can enjoy. Approaching tattoo from a cultural perspective and exploring the 5 main genres of Polynesian tattoo: Hawai'ian, Marquesan, Tahitian, Samoan and Maori, the author shares his own personal insights as well as those of historians, anthropologists and early European explorers. Fundamentals of Traditional and Modern Polynesian Tattoo, is a massive collection of ancient and modern Polynesian tattoo motifs, as well as a historical and cultural account of what motivated the ancient Polynesians to cover themselves in the protective armor of tattoo.

“A book about ‘the sins of the fathers.’ . . . A gritty, troubling book.”—The Honolulu Advertiser “The other Hawai’i, the one tourists never get to see.”—Ian MacMillan Ken Hideyoshi is the new guy in Halawa Correctional Institute. He’s tough looking, a hard case, observes his cellmate Cal—the mute tattoo artist of the prison, a wife murderer. SYN, a gang symbol, is tattooed on his hand, and he has a Japanese emblem inscribed on his left shoulder. He asks Cal for a tattoo on his back, in kanji script, of Musashi’s Book of the Void. While he is being worked on, he tells Cal his life story, a tale of hardship and abuse. Motherless, he was raised by a distant father, a Vietnam War veteran, in the impoverished hinterlands. In his teen years he hung out with the native Hawaiian gangs and was drawn into the Hawaiian-Korean underworld of strip bars and massage parlors. His ambition and proud samurai spirit seem, inevitably, to lead to his downfall. Chris McKinney is of Korean, Japanese, and Scottish descent. He was born in Honolulu and grew up in Kahaluu. He portrays the native Hawaiian experience from the inside, where children of mixed ethnicity grow up far from the clear water and pristine beaches of the rich visitors’ resorts.

The popularity of tattoos today is a revival of a practice begun in the late eighteenth century, when Westerners first made contact with the native peoples of the Pacific. The term ‘tattoo’ entered Europe with the publication of Captain Cook’s voyages in the 1770s, and Pacific tattoos became fashionable in the West as sailors, whalers and explorers brought home tattoos from Tahiti, the Marquesas, New Zealand and Polynesia. In recent years these early contacts have been revived, as native tattooists from Oceania have begun tattooing non-Polynesians in Europe, the USA and elsewhere. Tattoo is both a fascinating book about these early Oceanic–European exchanges, that also documents developments up to the present day, and the first to look at the history of tattooing in Oceania itself. Documenting these complex cultural interactions in the first part of the book, the authors move from issues of encounter, representation and exchange to the interventions of missionaries and the colonial state in local tattoo practices. Highly illustrated with many previously unseen images, for example the original voyage sketches of the first Russian circumnavigation of 1803–6, this is a fascinating account of early tattooing and cultural exchange in Oceania, and will appeal to the wide audience interested in the history of tattooing.

The book "Polynesian Tattoo Designs - Ocean Legacy" is a collection of 92 ocean themed Polynesian style tattoos with brief description of the meanings for each design along with their outlines, intended mainly for tattoo artists.