TattooJoe (Nick‘s tattooist, as a point of trivia) having his knee worked on whilst in Japan..
“This hurt, look at the size of the machine!“
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Comments
71 responses to “Big in Japan”
nice maori moko on his face.
For christ’s sake, that’s not MOKO on his face. He’s not MAORI therefore it can’t be moko as he lacks the requisite whakapapa in order for it to BE moko. He’s the tauiwi guilty of thievery of our symbolism and culture. It’s kirituhi.
Has he ever even BEEN here to Aotearoa?
We’re even sending our toi ta moko overseas to educate you fools about what is and isn’t moko, yet you still don’t get it.
What’s the bet this gets censored, huh?
Okay, for lack of a better word.
Nice ‘perhaps-maori-inspired’ tattoos on his face.
Tribal just simply doesn’t do them justice.
And on a separate note, I love the similarity in their postures.
Both concentrating heavily, like theres nothing else in the world.
#2 ur just a week minded fool …..dang really hard to even look at his work ….looks like loose change in mympocket
Is the big patch of black the bit that’s being done? I like it a lot anyway. And the Tom Waits reference.
Looks alot like NYCNicks facial tattoo..
He’s got a Jesus tattoo too, don’t tell God.
Wait for it… MINES BIGGER, ha couldn’t resist.
I really like this guyssleeve, very intense and runs together well.
Looks like NYCNick’s tattoo? he’s the dude that did it.
Jon,
Why are you so angry dude? Do you generally like trying to feel superior to others when you are not? This guy has nice work and it is his knee that is getting the work done, not his face. To each his own.
a bunch of tattooed guys, teeehee!
I can see why people ‘stealing’ your culture could be very frustrating but isn’t being copied the greatest form of flattery? That probably doesn’t cut it but there’s no sense in getting so aggressive – you don’t know this guy’s story.
I’ve read of non-Maoris being granted proper Moko as honorary Maoris before – I think Ben Harper’s backpiece and arms are Moko by Tohunga ta Moko Gordon Hatfield.
Woah this guys looks awesome, I’d like to get a better look at his facial tattoos
Ben Harper came to this country and has whanau here, he visits regularly and gives back to his family, thus making it a connecting piece that he has. My 5x great-grandfather was Barnett Burns, one of the first non-Maori to have a full moko kanohi. He earned it through service to his hapu and took a Maori wife and had Maori children. It’s a shame he shot through and returned to Britain to sell himself as a curiosity after receiving such a tapu thing as moko, but that was his choice.
I was referring to the first post calling his facial tattooing ‘maori moko’ which, of course, it’s not.
Copying isn’t the greatest form of flattery when the background things haven’t been undertaken or carried out. I mean, if you knew how to read moko kanohi, you’d see he has several elements out of place and things in his facial tattoo that shouldn’t be there because he couldn’t possibly have earned them. Thus, it’s a stylised facial tattoo and not moko kanohi. It’s not a hard concept to grasp if you’re willing to try.
Re: #4 – How am I weak minded? You sit over there in your armchair and probably think that all things are available to you if you’ve got the money, but some things can’t be bought and sold. Hollywood taught you the wrong things, buddy. I made damn sure I learned the reasons and process of what my people did, and do, to themselves and I spent years upon years on IAM trying to represent it and educate people but I only ever hit a brick wall. I even wrote big entries in the BME Wiki for people to read but they obviously didn’t and STILL haven’t.
“Hollywood is the rotting heart of a diseased population, and this heart won’t stop it’s beating until we burn it down” – Antagonist ‘Hollywood’
It’s a no-brainer that he’s not Maori and isn’t pretending to be.
So why the fuss? Because someone wrote “Maori” instead of “Maori inspired” or “stylized facial tattoo”?
A brief correction of terms and a link to your Wiki entry would have been fine instead of a spanking.
Jon P, I understand how you can be angry about it but expressing that anger negatively won’t stop people from getting ta moko.
It’s far more effective to educate people on the importance a moko carries and explain the serious insult it carries getting one (even if it’s a tribute or inspired by the style).
Unfortunately with the world being so inter-connected, people often seek out exotic beauty and different styles from all over the world without the ever seeking to see the real beauty that the item conveys based on it’s history and knowledge. This problem is going to go on forever and only through increased education will it slow. I’d also be interested to know if tattoojoe considered his facial tattoos moko or kirituhi *spelling*.
p.s. I am a Pakeha and I once was really interested in the beautiful artform but once I researched it I realized that I shouldn’t get any pieces even inspired by it. I’ll decorate my body with different art and leave the moko to those who have a claim to it.
*edit* it should be noted that tattoo joe has images of moko inspired tattoos on his myspace portfolio which could mean he’s been tattooing people in the maori style which i definetly do not support.
# 15 my thoughts exactly
#2 & #14
you are falling into your own trap my man…you belong to that group of people that think of themselves as priviledged becaue they have or know a thing or two about ink and mods. so what? are you an instructor of tattoo 101 in some university or something? i think not. or is it just that you saw a “mistake” written in a post of admiration towards the journey this man has had in the world of ink so far and thought you could show off a bit? did anyone ask you how well informed youare on maori tattoos? no. did anyone ask you whether you have spent years posting info in Wiki? nope. you sound like a biased or complexed guy who just wants to show off a thingy or two he knows…who gives a f***k anyway about what you think dude? you should applaud admiration towards the modified (in any way expressed) and not find it as an excuse to show off. cause thats what you just did, you showed off big time, by definition.
instead of posting a link like HereKittyKitty said, you made us read about your great great great grandfather and throwed a bunch of terms you know towards our general direction. so what? because he is not maori he can’t get a “maorilike” tattoo? what are you? head of the maori cencorship commitee?
if you think ink is for the few then you are an elitist and you don’t belong here. This is a place free of judgement and biased attacks such as yours only undermine years of effort and struggle for a community FREE from biases and complexes. good going dude. next off you’ll tell us what to wear and what to vote too, cause somewhere in your bloodline there was a politician or a fashion designer…please man. not everyone is as nahive as you think they are ….
If I’m not mistaken, I think that the progression is of two totally different guys…
I’m sorry, but this had to be said.
Culture rape is culture rape, whether it be in rituals or terms or even mods. It’s not just, “OOOH PRETTY INK!!”, it means something. Calling a bunch of lines that vaguely resemble moko such is dishonest. Of course, in this case, it was probably an innocent mistake, but how many times has someone used the wrong mod terminology on here and gotten railed for it? Quite a few, unless my memory’s failing me. Just because something is culture-related, doesn’t make it fair game. If we don’t promote honesty and education, we’re just as much trash as the people who knowingly put incorrect or even made-up “kanji” on people’s skin.
re: #18 I’m not a body modification artist. I don’t claim to know a thing or two about ink or mods. That’s not what I’m doing here.
I’m a MAORI and I definitely know a thing or two about ta moko. You can’t even grasp a concept such as ‘tapu’ obviously because you don’t live here in Aotearoa within a specific cultural context. Shit man, there’s things you just don’t do. You don’t burn hair. You don’t sit on a table where food will be prepared or on cushions or pillows where a head will rest. You whakanoa yourself with fresh water before you leave an urupa or cemetary.
Those are just a few examples of things we must do in order to respect certain types of tapu surrounding things in our culture.
“who gives a f***k anyway about what you think dude?”
None of you will. I’m just a Maori who was brought up around his culture. I just know what I know because it’s part of my life. Why the f**k should I “applaud admiration towards the modified (in any way expressed)” when it takes the form of someone stealing from my culture? That makes no sense to me.
I don’t see “the modified” as a distinct cultural group, ethinicity, or ‘people’ because they’re not. I’m Maori. I have tattoos. I wouldn’t call myself ‘modified’ to differentiate myself or denote my ethnicity. That’s just ludicrous.
That’s about as stupid as saying, “We the skaters are a separate and distinct nation and believe that the State should make binding treaties to recognise our historical claims to the land on which our skate parks lay”.
Dumb ass! What the f**k does this have to do with “showing off”?
And like I said before, the most basic underlying concept of ta moko is whakapapa. Go look it up in the BME Wiki, it’s right there! I mentioned that in the first place!
Jon P ur a dumb b-tch all i would have to do to take over ur culture would be to skin all the tattoos off ur leaders then what ???O I wasnt born there but here Buddhas name B Blessed but o know he was born then and there and im here today < but if i were to read an article in the times that said hey you look at here at deeezzzz Nutzzz….lol @[email protected]
Nice moireye moko , did he get it done in New zealand?
😉
John P…
dude i was right, you are an elitist. you consider a “maori-like” tattoo to be stealing of your culture. is it? aren’t we all free to do as we please on ourselves? did you register your culture as a trademark ?then how is it stealing? is maori culture yours? nope…you are part of it. you don’t own culture, it owns you. and yes, whether you like it or not, maori tattoos are still tattoos, a subcategory of a global culture . and as part of the tattoo culture (and as with all cultures) it is bound to be spread globaly, become mixed with other cultures, interpreted in many ways and so on and so forth. its called Hybridity and its part of the world we live in.
as cultures meet, art is bound to travel, evolve and cross breed. the cultural meaning of maori tattoos only concerns the people directly involved in this culture, the rest of the world sees beautiful art in those patterns. they cannot relate, understand or grasp the philosophy behind them. and they are not obliged to do so in any way. I am not against educating people on tattoo culture, in any way. What i am against are editorial “attacks” such as yours today.
i respect all you stand for dude, i really do. but it sounds to me that if i see you down the street someday and say “hey, nice ink” in a way that is culturally inappropriate, it would really piss you off. if you want to educate someone on what you stand for culturally, attacking them verbally isn’t quite the right start. and then annoying pricks like me get in the way of you making your point. and the sad thing is that you were the one being right in the first place.
i believe that this is a community of friends. tattoos and mods are celebrated here, they are the main cultural umbrella. genres and styles are sub categories of the general concept. knowledge and respect are also essential. so next time…give us your knowledge through the right channel… a polite correction and a link to Wiki. its all we need.
claiming cultural ownership and exclusivity leads to isolation. all is ours to share.
thanks for your time.
That’s a good looking moko, looks a bit like that maori cop that appears on here from time to time.
Most of you fancy yourselves amateur anthropologists it seems.
re: #25 – What’s this about a global “tattoo culture”? Explain. I bet you don’t even know what you’re talking about. There’s no such thing as a global tattooing culture. There’s magazines, tv shows, websites, festivals, but how in the hell does that make it a “culture”?
It’s a subculture perhaps, a modern movement maybe, but you couldn’t ever call it a ‘culture’ and debate that within anthropological circles.
In regards to people calling his facial tattoo “moko”, if there’s ever a discussion going on as to what is and isn’t moko, I urge you to join in or observe it. I also urge you to look at the writings of tohunga-ta-moko o te tai rawhiti Mark Kopua. He’s probably THE foremost practising specialist on ta moko and really lays it out in easy to understand terms.
http://www.maoriart.org.nz/profiles/mark_kopua
Unfortunately, the best written piece on ta moko is linked through tamoko.org.nz, which seems to be down at the moment. Mark Kopua wrote that also. Good chunks of the Maori related articles on wiki.bmezine.com are referenced from Kopua’s writings though, so that’s a good place to look.
Really though, the best place to start with this issue are books like introductory anthropology texts dealing with indigenous peoples, their rights and livelihoods, such as ‘Victims of Progress’ by John Bodley.
There are two good books by an esteemed Maori scholar named Mason Durie ‘Nga Tai Matatu: Tides of Maori Endurance’ and ‘Nga Kahui Pou: Launching Maori Futures’.
Ranginui Walker’s ‘Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou: Struggle Without End’ is also a good introductory read when it comes to Maori origins, culture, history, and contemporary events, all from a Maori perspective.
And THE BEST book so far published is called ‘Mau Moko: The World of Maori Tattoo’ by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku. It’s published by Penguin NZ and is the result of a several year long study by Maori scholars. It contains information on practically everything involved in ta moko and is a great read.
Really though, no one here’s gonna read those books or even take the time to seek them out because it’s really not that important to you, is it? I’m the one who flips out everytime something is incorrectly labelled ‘ta moko’ because its like lifeblood, my culture. Anyone else would just say, “Meh, who cares?”
Thats a cool moko , me and my mates are goign to get some done , will will send in pics when there finished!
MOKO aint maroi anyone can have them 🙂
nice MOKO , i have my chin done 🙂
Hey Cere, how’s the internet celebrity-status treating you? Any more underaged lil girls come knocking at your door? If you’re ever in New Zealand, lemme know. I’d love to see that chin of yours. Either my fist or my balls will be resting on it.
Well heck, I actually would like to read those websites but yeah, they are down, down down. Currently checking out the wiki.
Though just a toss out for thought – what are people’s opinions on wearing the uniform or insignia of a school, club, service, etc to which one doesn’t belong? Getting the brand of a frat you don’t belong to? Tattooing military unit numbers on yourself? Does it change if other items about yourself make it clear you can’t be impostering? Does the presence of language in the design change things? Does changing the design so it’s obviously not the same to real members, but non-members might still be confused, make a difference?
I am in new Zealand and maroi I like to do the tattoo on face. if you love the maoui you should get your face tattooed in our style.Sometimes I am nasty on the internet because I am quite short and people tease me because of it. I am sorry what I ment to type is :
We love the mauri tattoo face on people from over seas.Please all get our tattoos on you.
Cheers Jon P
#30 wow dude really fisically threating sum1 here becuase u dont like thier view points how dum owell anyhows ur a losser and no one wants u posting here anyways theyb all say stupid things about u in the private emails they send me aand besides that who cares what u think cuase ur dumb and losser mixed togther…
haha learn to spell, retard.
Kia Kaha Jon P. I completely tautoko your words.
Jon P- i think the “global tattooing culture” the person above was referring to is the fact that all over the world different cultures had/have tattooing or body painting. Henna designs in India/Middle east, ochre in Africa, woad in Britian and thats just the temporary ones.
Dont take offense so easily becasue someone called a design maori as opoosed to maori based or you believe someones “stolen” a bit of “your” culture. The worlds a much smaller place nowadays just like Good Freinds said
#36 u cant steal a culture thats just so stupid and besides why dont to u go the morie trade patent and tardemark office that way u could rub around the web and take evry1 to court who uses ur stuff do u guys have a specail morie egg btter to scramble eggs id call it the maurie egganator scaramble upto like 5 large ostrich eggs in just under 10 seconds Wow
hahahahhaha @ no 36.
You sure told him! pmsl
re: #36 We don’t have ostriches in Aotearoa dick. That’s Australia. And if you think you can’t steal intellectual property, you’d be wrong. Shit dude, the last G8 meeting (I think it was the G8) with their resolution on intellectual property rights has wide reaching implications for cultural property also. But I guess a dude who can’t even spell correctly doesn’t keep up with those kinda things, right?
re: #34 Kia ora, e hoa! Nga mihi ki a koe! 🙂
hi everyone im tattoojoe i just want to start by saying the tattoo on my face is not a moko.It is a tribal design that i drew 10 years ago i love the design i have always been influenced by MAORI tattoos every since i saw moby dick the first time i ever saw a facial tattoo.back when i drew this design there was no internet or refrences to facial tattoos never mind MAORI tribes.all i know is i wanted my face tattooed it was something that was calling me n calling me i dont know why i whish i could explain.but when i got it done it made me feel complete.it brought me happiness.i was influenced by MAORI,samoan,and polynesian styles.Manly because it is such a wonderful art form the style goes with my face the lines flow with my face.I dont think i raped a culter i think that is crazy.How many americans have japan body suites?how many japaness people have american tattoos?how many people have tribal that was stolen from borneo almost ever american has tribal that was taken from borneo because leo z put out flash that was all borneo inspired.Im not a bad person who goes around raping different cultures is what my point is.I saw a style that would look good tattooed on my face.in reality my facial tattoo found me and i love it.When i had the tattoo done back in 1993 it was the most taboo thing to do noone tattooed there face.the only people who did tattoo there face were punk rocker with realy bad tattoos.i did not want that.i wanted something that looked great.i tryed reasearching MAORI facial tattooing i could not find anything. the only things i could find were wood carvings as far as tattooing i heard mokos were not done any more or i would have traveled to new zealand and tryed to have my tattoo done there.but that was not an option.Now a day facial tattooing has blown up there are so many people in the world tattooing there face i never thought it would blow up like this there are people in japan and china with full polynesian style facial tattoos even a famous cyclist with a facial tattoo which look MAORI influensed .even mike tyson tattooed his face which is borneo influenced.Well im sorry if some people think i stole a style i was just deeply influenced by it because it is beautiful.And most artists are influenced by what they find attractive weather it is oriental,tribal,sailor tattoo,or anything they see.It is all just art.and artists expressing them selves.I dont see a rule book that japnness people can only get japaness work or MAORI people can only get MAORI tattoos or americans can only get america tattoos that would be so closed mind and all artist would be limted in what they can do in any style of art weather it is tattooing,painting,pottery,or carving wood furniture all art is influenced by different cultures and everyone shares idears.So again im sorry for being open minded and expanding with different styles of art.If it has to be that way then alot of artist should just stop doing art.I hope everyone has a better understanding of were im coming from now and open there minds up a little more because it would suck if americans got mad for people from new zealand for getting a heart wth mom on it tattooed on them japaness people getting mad for people getting a dragon or koi fish if that would be so then we should just stop having international tattoo convention were thease people come here to the states and make a ton of money off of selling there art.
thank you for listening to my point of view
TATTOOJOE
I happened to love Joe’s face… and had him do mine. I love it….. and I loved the process. What Joe had, and what he did to myself, and others was never meant to be an imitation (as in direct copy) of anything. I do know that Joe is enamored with polynesian and maori images… and cherishes their aesthetic. He is also exploring his own understanding of tattooing as art. While I can understand some being upset at what they see as a copy…. i would never, for one moment, suggest that it was an attempt to snub a distant culture. One might also feel that elements of Vaux le Vicomte should stylistically never be reproduced outside of France, or Wright, America, or the Parthenon, Greece…. but imitation has for centuries been a form of flattery, exploration or respect over the centuries. In this more global and connected and necessarily multi-cultural world… one can only expect to see more and more as we are directly exposed to so much that used to be so isolated. Inasmuch, as we all learn to appreciate the odd beautiful thing, that some other might find puzzling, the world becomes a better place for us all… especially as we all sit at matching terminals by HP Dell, Mac or similar brand perusing this wonder of the world-wide web…. Life is too short to be angry, or not lived.
Jon Pee
It’s not a case of saying only Maori can have Maori tattoos, because that’s just not true. But spiritually and respectfully, people shouldn’t try to have ta moko if they don’t have whakapapa Maori.
Of course, any non-Maori can have Maori style tattooing. It’s simply not moko. But that doesn’t lessen the beauty of the tattooing just because you can’t call it moko. It’s called ‘kirituhi’, or literally ‘drawn skin’. That’s the term used to describe Maori tattooing on non-Maori.
I think when people get Maori style tattooing, they automatically default to the only term they know for it, which is the term Maori use for it: ta moko. But like I said before, calling it kirituhi instead of ta moko doesn’t lessen anything about the tattooing.
And I do realize that cultures are fluid in the sense that they change as time goes on. Within the field of indigenous studies, there’s contention around what can be seen as ‘traditional’ and what is considered ‘contemporary’, simply because most people think traditional means ‘pre-colonization’.
Ideas are picked up and assimilated or discarded based on their usefulness, and that’s fine and dandy. What I was getting at is the fact that another culture might pick up something like Maori did when Pakeha/Whites brought steel with them. They started doing ta moko with steel needles as opposed to uhi/bone chisels. Switching materials is a whole different thing to assimilating entrenched and easily identifiable symbols and motifs though. You could do ta moko with a needle and it’d still be ta moko. But to do a tattoo which is solely based on Maori symbols and motifs, it wouldn’t just become a piece of Japanese art because someone chose to call it that. It’s still blatantly Maori or Maori inspired.
It’s just not ta moko unless you, yourself (the one with the tattoo), have whakapapa Maori.
To Joe: Ta moko never died like the history books say. Those history books were written by Pakeha who thought they’d succeeded in putting down a pagan/evil practise. It lived through kuia Maori, or old Maori women, who still had the tradition under their skins. Though Tame Poata, a tohunga-ta-moko from the old-school, and his contemporaries might have died, their designs lived on right up until recent times. People were still learning about ta moko through their relatives and through carvings and photographs of their ancestors. People were still taking ta moko all through that time, just not in the mainstream spotlight for fear of ridicule and scrutiny. And when the Maori renaissance took place, when we took back our language and set up kohanga reo, kura kaupapa, and wananga, when mau rakau resurfaced, and all the wonderful aspects of our culture came to the forefront thanks to groups like Nga Tamatoa (The Young Warriors), ta moko took hold again to give our people something tangible to grasp hold of.
Joe, if you’re seriously into Maori style tattooing, which you MUST be because you’ve tattooed so many people’s faces with it over the years, I’m sure you could contact people like Inia Taylor and come here to Aotearoa to learn the real deal. There are numerous practitioners all over the country who could teach you about ta moko. Alternatively you could contact Te Uhi a Mataora, the national ta moko group, to see when ta moko artists are heading your way so that you could hook up and discuss ta moko and see them at work. There’re myriad possibilities to learn from the real deal practitioners. 🙂
oh and by the way…I fully agree with TattooJoe. good points there bro.
Jon Pee
you i just noticed that you also called #33 a retard due to a spelling mistake.
on my previous post i wrote that i respect you. i regret that. i vomit towards your general direction.
you are a short man
short in spirit
short in education
short in manners
massage your prostate and relax dude. in other words, get a life.
I’m bloody furious at Tattoo Joe. How dare he have Vida Loca tattooed on him. I bet he isn’t even Spanish.
In fact I bet he hasn’t even been to Spain. I have, and I think it’s an outcry.
to jon p shut the fuck up & get off your soap box you dont have the balls to get facial ink obviously
jons p its obviuos ur culture and view points are rude and outdated …uwant to hold onto a stupid culture that palces people into casts by birth losser culture and u are a shinngexapmple of it ….
p.sanyhotblackchicksherewanttoridethewhitehorse???
Bradly…. man, you’re weird. You know nothing about my culture obviously. Places people in castes by birth?
Good friends, what’s your deal, dude? You couldn’t call me a short man in ANY way, least in the ways you just described. I fight hard for my people, so I’m not short in spirit. I’m a university graduate in Social Anthropology, so I’m not short in education. I don’t believe in manners, respect is earned not freely given. None of you are deserving of my respect.
Height wise, not the tallest, but comfortably average, no short. haha
Jeez peoples, give it a rest, it’s played out!