Almost everywhere in the world, people know images that are drawn into the skin with needles or other sharp objects and colored pigments. From Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, from Iceland to Japan, people with skin pictures adorn themselves. The 5300-year-old body of the Stone Age man Ötzi has more than 50 tattoos. The tattoos on this oldest surviving body in the world include parallel lines on the lower spine, stripes on the right ankle, and a cross motif on the inside of the right knee.
Since the drawings are located exactly on the main acupuncture line, researchers now assume that they should relieve pain in Ötzi. Maori tattoo on the chest of a male Polynesian art also influenced tattoos in Europe. Tattoos were also found on the 4000-year-old mummy of the Egyptian priest Amunet. In the central kingdom of Egypt, from about 2015 to 1794 BC, stained glass paintings based on Nubian ornaments were a popular ritual on the skin.
The characteristic motifs of blue-black dots and lines, for example, wearing a princess from the 11th Dynasty Thebes (2000 BC), which was discovered in 1923 in a tomb at Luxor.
2400 years old is the corpse of a woman who was found in the Russian Ukok Plateau. On her arms and shoulders, she wears ornate, ornate skin pictures of birds, deer and mystical animals. It is believed that the woman belonged to the Pazyryker tribe and was probably a warrior or narrator of tribal stories.
In contrast to today’s modern and relatively painless technique of tattooing, past methods seem crude and brutal. Each people had its own procedure to bring colors under the skin:
The Inuit worked their skin with sooty threads that left scar-like markings. The Maori in New Zealand used chisel-like wooden instruments to cut paint into their facial skin. A comb-like hoe, which consisted among other things of machined human bones, used the Samoans. In Tahiti tattooed with sharp bones or shark teeth, the Maya and Aztecs helped themselves with thorns and cactus spines.
The film clip shows a traditional tattoo on the South Sea island of Samoa and lets both the tattoo artist and the tattooed have their say.
Whether “classics” such as anchor, heart and eagle, abstract patterns or individual pictures – there are many tattoo styles. One of the most important styles in the world comes from Japan. Again, there were first early tribal tattoos, which were rejected as primitive with the orientation to the Chinese high culture.
After shogun tattoos used to stigmatize criminals for centuries until 1868, the Nihon Irezumi, the ornamental tattoo, arrived. Irezumi means “Introduce Ink.” The motifs go back to a 14th-century Chinese robber and rebel story, the tale of four tattooed outlaws, translated as “Suikoden” (“Beach Stories”) into Japanese in the 18th century Robin Hood was in the service of the weak and hit the nerve of the times, and the Japanese people were fed up with the shogun tutelage.
The basis for the Irezumi tattoos was provided by the “Suikoden” illustrations by Katshushika Hokusai and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, who artistically translated the four rebels with their skin motifs and the motifs described in the stories. Typical Irezumi motifs are dragons and cherry blossoms, leopards, tigers or monkeys. In addition, Utagawa Kuniyoshi coined the style by embedding the motifs in a wave and cloud background.
Of great importance to the Irezumi is the coherence of the motifs, which requires the tattoo artist to have a very good knowledge of Japanese history, mythology and art. Irezumi is often used as a synonym for the Japanese whole body tattoo, the so-called suit.
Meanings and Symbolism
The rhinoceros is a loner and has lived on our planet for thousands of years. It therefore carries an incredible wealth of experience and comprehensive wisdom in itself. The rhino appears in your life to give you the feeling of safety and comfort.
Even in a time of solitude, you can get by with the help of the rhino, well over the rounds. It will surely accompany you and lead you to your actual goal. The time is now favorable to recognize oneself and to take appropriate steps.
The following spiritual clues are to be understood as messages to which you should pay attention right now and which you want to transfer and interpret to your individual life situation. Relax your body and your mind and find out in your mind which thoughts, ideas and insights you will find in your consciousness:
- High sensitivity
- Recognizing good from evil
- Recognize the difference in general
- Appreciation of individual values
- Trust in the inner wisdom
- Listen carefully
- To appreciate your own strengths and abilities
- Read between the lines
- You know a lot more than you think
- It’s time to open up to a higher spiritual level or continue to grow
- Realignment or change of perspective
- Arriving in the present
Design and Ideas
The motive is already there, but you are still looking for a suitable job? Then here are some tips that can help you.
First, you should think about whether your subject should become a “visible” tattoo. Visible in this case means that the tattoo is in a place you cannot always cover. So you’re faced with deciding whether you want to be an obviously tattooed person for every person, or that the whole thing is more likely to become your private thing. For example, a tattoo on the thigh is usually less common than a tattoo on the forearm. Plan exactly which motive you want to have and do not obstruct yourself, even before you find your absolute dream tattoo artist, all visible parts.
With several tattoos it is important to make sure that they do not get in each other’s way. For example, if you have your entire arm filled by a tattoo artist as a full sleeve, you do not have to worry much about it. You will place the individual motifs together and your tattoo artist will then join them on a flat surface.
However, if you do not want to make your arm stand out as a project, but want to collect several small motifs from different artists, you should pay more attention to the placement of each motif.
You want to have your arm completely tattooed and not commit yourself to an artist? No problem! Several “small” tattoos can also cover a large area of skin.
However, care should be taken to ensure that there are not too many gaps between the individual tattoos that do not provide enough space for another motif.
Often, such gaps can only be filled with difficulty, and many a tattoo artist, of course, has little fun in filling in the gaps. When placing your motive between the others, tell your tattoo artist that he should place it in such a way that it does not create a silly gap. For this purpose, for example, he can slightly enlarge, reduce or otherwise modify his motif. He usually has a better view of the subject and can advise you on the best placement.
The rhino tattoo holds such a great symbolical value that can be expressed both in a small tattoo and in a large one. No matter which design you go for, there are plenty of design ideas you can choose from.
You can go with the black and white version, with more or less details, if you want to keep it simple. Or, you can choose a colorful tattoo and even add some colors that are not usually related to a rhino, to express your creativity. When it comes to position of the rhino, there are plenty of options you can go for. You can tattoo a simple rhino in its natural standing position, or you can even tattoo it in motion if you want to express a moving force or overcoming something in your life. Rhinos are indigenous to the African continent, so you can add some colors to make the design more colorful and bolder.
Rhinos are perfect tattoos for everyone who is not looking for an average text tattoo and for everyone who wants to express its unique nature and personality. Rhino tattoo will look good on any part of your body, just make sure to adjust the size of the tattoo to its design and to the part of the body you want to decorate with a beautiful piece of art.
