Tattoo History — World History of Tattoo

A tattoo is a permanent setting made by introducing ink into the layers of skin, to change the pigment, usually for ornamental reasons. Skin was the first canvas for art. Sticks and other pointy objects were the 1st paintbrushes, and tattooing was a form of building scars. This involved injuring oneself and jamming dirt or ashes into the wound to discolor it permanently. It is believed that prehistoric man cut holes in his skin, charred sticks in the fire, let them cool and then applied the black content to the injury to create tribal markings.

Primitive man believed the process of tattooing released sacred life forces, since it involved pain, blood and fire. The flowing of blood was also associated with a sacrifice to the Gods. Tattoos were also used to bring one’s soul in alignment with God’s purpose, increase virility and fertility, and ensure the preservation of the body after the death.

Tattooing has been a Eurasian practice since at least Neolithic times. Otzi the Iceman (dating from the fourth or fifth millennium BC), found in the Alps, had approximately 57 carbon tattoos consisting of simple dots and lines on his lower spine, behind his left knee, and on his right ankle.

Pre-Christian Germanic, Celtic, and other central and northern European tribes were often to a great extent tattooed, with detailed designs. Tattooing in Japan goes back to the Paleolithic era, probably, approximately ten thousand years ago. Between 1603-1868, Japanese tattooing was only exercised by the ukiyo-e (the floating world culture). Generally firemen, manual workers and prostitutes wore tattoos, that communicated their status. Between 1720-1870, criminals were tattooed as a visible mark of penalty.

Tattooing features prominently in Chinese literature, in addition, Chinese legend has it that the mother of Yue Fei, the most famous general of the Song Dynasty, tattooed the words jing zhong bao guo, on his back with her needle before he left to join the army, reminding him to repay his country with pure loyalty.

Tattooing in the Western world originates in Polynesia, with the uncovering of tatau by eighteenth-century explorers. Henna and Mehndi were popular in ancient India and ancient Egypt, and continue to be popular in some parts. An antediluvian practice of tattooing in the Middle East required people cutting themselves and scratching in ash (from the deceaseds funeral pyre) throughout a period of mourning, after an individual had died. It was a sign of honor for the dead, and s symbol of reverence, as well as a sense of profound loss.