Tattooing

Tattooing was an old Polynesian art but like the art of carving, it must have come to New Zealand with much simpler motifs and designs than those which aroused the commercial interest of European traders in procuring tattooed heads. A simple rectilinear pattern of short parallel lines on the face has been recorded from the South Island under the name of moko kuri (61, p. 64) and may be a survival from the earlier art. A design resembling the puhoro pattern of the thigh was recorded on the face by Parkinson who accompanied Cook's first expedition (61, pp. 5, 7).

The art, which was apparently at its peak at the time of regular European contact, was markedly curvilinear. It is evident from the type drawing (Fig. 96a),reproduced from Hamilton (46, p. 313), that the general design was a combination of motifs taken from carving and from painting. The main features were carving motifs consisting of long, curved lines and spirals and the subsidiary parts were filled in with the scroll motif taken from painting.

The curved lines were in two sets; one set (tiwhana) extended from the inner angle of the eye over the brow and curved downward and backward over the temple and the other set (kawe) curved from the wings (aloe) of the nose around the corner of the mouth to the side of the chin. The term kawe is the Whanganui name and probably rerepehi was more general. The spiral occurred in pairs on the side of the nose and on the cheeks with sometimes a small one on each side of the chin to bound the lower ends of the kawe curves. The nose spirals were double with looped centres, the lower (pongiangia) covering the wing and the other (ngu) between it and the eye. The occasional chin spirals were also double with looped centres. The large cheek spirals introduced a new element in that they were triple instead of double. The upper spiral (paepae) was formed over the cheek bone and the lower (koroaha) extended over the lower jaw. It is probable that in the evolution of the new designs, the forehead curves, nose spirals, and nose-to-chin curves page 323were the first motifs used and for a while constituted the full design. Later, the cheek spirals were added.

When a revival of tattooing took place in the 1860's as an expression of the desire to restore the old-time Maori atmosphere, the less-skilled artists of mat period felt that they accomplished their purpose by using the forehead curves, nose spirals, and nose-to-chin curves as their full design. Thus history-evidently repeated itself.

A period probably followed during which the parts of the face beyond the carving motifs remained untouched. At some time, the development of rafter painting drew the attention of the tattooing artists to the beauty of the scroll motif and they proceeded to use it for filling in the unoccupied spaces. The middle line probably received first attention and a scroll design was filled in on the chin to complete the picture with the lower ends of the nose-to-chin curves (kawe) and was termed kauwae (chin) page 324from its position (b). At the upper end of the median line, the triangular space on the forehead above the forehead curves (tiwhana) was filled in with another scroll design (c) termed titi. Turning to the sides, the bare space between the ears and the two cheek spirals were filled in with yet another scroll design termed putaringa (taringa, ear) also from its position (d). The face was now well covered with an artistry that, like carving and painting, was nowhere approached in Polynesia. However, skill in the use of the scroll led to the addition of minor embellishments. A scroll addition termed rewha was added at the outer corner of the eye with short curved lines running in on the upper eyelid to balance similar curves from the inner end of the long forehead curves (tiwhana). The two small, vacant spaces between the two cheek spirals and the nose-to-chin curved lines were filled in with scrolls which apparently received no names. The nose received some extra attention, probably at an earlier period; lines running down the bridge (rerepi), curved lines on the under surface near the nasal openings (hupe), and lines below the nostrils on the upper lip (rerehupe).

Further to confirm the affinity between the scroll designs of tattooing and painting, some tattooing sketches by Robley (61, Figs. 88, 60, 79) are here reproduced to show specimens of the three principal scroll designs: the chin (Fig. 96b),forehead (Fig. 96c) and the front of the ear (Fig. 96d). The scroll motifs in the figures, though delineated by single lines, consist of uncoloured skin just as the scrolls in painting were originally formed by the unpainted wood. The background, to show up the scrolls, was filled in by tattooing parallel lines just as the rafter background was originally filled in by painting similar parallel lines or hatching. The origin of hatching may be traced back to carving in which the common beaded line was formed by cutting regular notches in a ridge and when the space formed by long grooves was wider, the notches became parallel grooves, straight or curved as the pattern demanded. Thus in appropriate parts of the design, the chisel, paint brush, and tattooing implement followed an established technique.

The rape spiral of the buttocks and the puhoro design of the thighs completed the full-dress tattooing of a male person of rank. The accessory parts of the face design were often added at later periods of life and the tattooers displayed great artistry in the use of the scroll motif.

Women were tattooed on the lips and chin. On the lips, two or three close parallel lines were formed along the skin margin of the upper and lower lips and the red or mucous membrane parts of the lips were filled in with the puncturing instrument so that they were permanently blue. A symmetrical design extended from the lower lip over the chin, the most general pattern being shown in Figure 96e.Slight variations occurred page 325but a markedly different design, having a somewhat pear-shaped appearance, was recorded by Robley (61, Figs. 31, 37) but the details are not clear enough for reproduction. Extra tattooing on the face was comparatively rare, the main forms recorded by Robley being a scroll pattern on the upper lip, short curves at the corners of the mouth, spirals on the nose, and short curves on the forehead at the inner angles of the eyes.

The third element in the spiral motif on the cheeks appears to have been fairly constant. The evolution of a triple spiral from a double spiral seems easy enough. It would appear that the tattooing artists, having borrowed the double spiral from carving, decided at some period in the development of design to add a third spiral whorl and so create a new variation which they could claim as their own.

In reproducing motifs from carving, the tattooing artists appear to have come under the influence of the carving technique in which the designs were cut out in grooves with a chisel. It was evidently felt that the smoother reproductions-made with the orthodox tattooing comb were not distinctive enough. Hence a bone blade sharpened like a chisel was substituted for the serrated blade in the tattooing instrument and with the new instrument, the new motifs were actually cut into the skin and hence the grooved texture and the bold appearance of the tattooed motifs more nearly resembled the carving motifs from which they were derived. The serrated blades were retained for the subsidiary motifs derived from the smoother designs of painting.