The Island Journal

I find it amusing that people get reiki symbol or kanji tattoos without understanding the meaning behind them. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against the culture. On the contrary, I tend to lean more towards an eastern philosophy in my own life and I have no genetic ties to the far east. I do not, however, adorn my body with the symbolism of these cultures because I am a white, middle class American. I have yet to meet a Japanese or Chinese person with the word “Water” tattooed anywhere on their body in times new roman or book hand.

I like tattoos for the artistic or meaningful inspiration they provide the wearer. I don’t have any ink myself, though some day in the future, maybe I will. I just believe people should carefully consider whether they are getting permanently marked for a good reason. My friend Andy has a tat on his left arm, a Celtic knot work band. To my knowledge, he’s not a Celt and as far as I know, he’s not entirely happy with it. It’s not meaningful to him in a symbolic way… it’s just his first tattoo. Recently, on his shoulder he’s had a paw print done that I designed for him. He was specific in his wishes about the content and structure of this tat. The paw print symbolizes his connection with the spirit of the wolf. Now, by the same token with the Celtic arm band, he’s no more a wolf than he is a Celt, but people in all cultures, including modern western civilization, animals factor into how people view themselves. I think that justifies his desire to have the paw print. It’s his mark.

I know others who have symbols of their own design or mythical creatures that encompass who they are or how they view themselves, or how they relate to others and these are the most important and informative marks they have on their bodies. Many are beautiful and delicate, others are forceful and proud but they are all personally meaningful and culturally, unbiased. Far be it from me to down someone for trying to express themselves. I am all about self expression in a multitude of forms. My primary point here is, try to express yourself within the bounds of your own culture.

What does that mean to a modern, melting pot society like the U.S.? Well, I know that I’m Scottish, French, German, Italian, and so on. I know what distinct relationships I have with the places of my ancestors births. I feel a distinct connection with those origins and so I could see having some Celtic knot work, a flur de lis (not in a million years), an iron cross (the Nazis ruined everything), or pretty much any Greco-Roman or Germanic symbol (ie Thor’s hammer, a Fenrir symbol). I could see heraldic blazon or a crest of some sort. I can not, however, justify in any way, shape, or form a kanji symbol on myself because I am not related to the far east, no matter how much I admire the culture.

All I ask is that if you get a kanji or reiki symbol on your body, have it placed correctly. Who’s to say what correct is? Well, the culture from whom you’ve taken the symbol. There are specific placements for reiki symbols on the body, most of which are in “hidden” areas. Kanji for specific forces, earth, air, water, metal, and so on placed on different parts of the body mean different things… it goes far beyond the simple “I’ll put a cool looking symbol on my coccyx to draw attention to my butt.” Which brings me to another point… A tramp stamp is placed on or no more than an inch above the coccyx. Higher than that and it’s just a lower back tattoo. I don’t make the rules.

In conclusion, get inked… by all means don’t let me stop you from displaying something meaningful to you on your body for all time. Please, consider the meaning before you usurp another’s culture for your the purposes of your own expression. Respect the culture from which you take “your” special symbol.

Tags: culture, tattoo

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 7:25 am and is filed under rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.