OT: Has your Style influenced you too....

[Chizica]

Go out and get a tattoo of Chinese Characters or Animals relating to your Art?
If you have, do you now regret getting it/them?

I am considering some Chinese Characters relating to my style. Tattoos are not new to my body, my back is covered in them.

Thoughts/Comments?

[red5angel]

Go out and get a tattoo of Chinese Characters or Animals relating to your Art?
If you have, do you now regret getting it/them?

I am considering some Chinese Characters relating to my style. Tattoos are not new to my body, my back is covered in them.

Thoughts/Comments?

as with all tats, just make sure whatever it is has a deeper meaning for you then something fleeting or a flavor of the moment.

[PangQuan]

Get a big tattoo of puff the magic dragon. hes tight.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i was gonna get our school emblam tattooed on me after staying for 5 years, but i only made it 4 and a half before i had to quit for health reasons and he pretty much stopped teaching anyway. if he still tought i could go back now, but unfortunately he doesnt.

[ghost5]

I am working on both shoulders. I get one section a year around my birthday. Both are close to being completed. The main thing is I did not use flash for the work. All of it is original art or changed from flash to the point it couldn't be called flash. I have two animals left to go and then the area around the main work.

Don't regret any of the work but I waited a very long time and thought about it for years before deciding if it was for me or not. I would tell anyone the same about deciding if it is for them and staying away from flash. I prefer original work whether it is mine or someone elses.

As for Chinese characters, I have my mine in an armband on the left side. But once again I had someone from China write the characters I wanted for me to keep it original

[PangQuan]

Ill have to agree with ghost. Flash sucks. Although some of it can be really good art, you will not be the only one with it.

almost like when you see someone wearing the same shirt, but worse.

I have several tattoos myself. all original. Most of my own design, its a big call, you got to know what you want.

[red5angel]

i was gonna get our school emblam tattooed on me after staying for 5 years, but i only made it 4 and a half before i had to quit for health reasons and he pretty much stopped teaching anyway. if he still tought i could go back now, but unfortunately he doesnt.


ever tried asking him if he'd teach you?

[ZIM]

No. But I got this HUGE red dragon tattooed on my back, going down to my thighs.

And I'm going to eat that painting some day.... :eek:

[joedoe]

I have often considered it but my wife always asks me what it would look like when I am old and saggy. That usually ends that discussion :)

[Chizica]

On my upper right shoulder is a green dragon with a woman veiled and a skull. The picture is below. It's not from flash. It's original as well.
The rest of my back is a Lord of the Rings Collage. Currently I have Gandalf and Frodo. I also have a small wolf on my lower left kidney.

If I get the Chinese Characters, it'll be on my arm.

JOEDOE. Just don't get saggy and they'll be alright.

[joedoe]

Too late :(

[Gowgee]

Watch out if you go with chinese characters!

If you really want to go with the chinese, make sure the artist is a decent writer - some of them look like they've been heat stencilled off a PC ;)

Some of the most entertaining ones I've seen so far written in Chinese are:

* black belt

* expert

* beginner

* leather journey (think it was supposed to be "river journey", but the tat artist chose the wrong character)

* girl power (who would have known the Spice Girls would have fallen from popularity so quickly! :rolleyes: )

* etc etc

[Sow Choy]

Chinese Tattoos...

Make sure you have someone else that is Chinese and can read it take a look at the characters... On a daily basis I am out with my sifu and we see someone with a tattoo with Chinese characters that are wrong, make no sense or say something offensive about the person wearing them...

My sifu asks, "You understand this talking what about?" and they are like, "it says peace and love", and he is like, "ok" and starts laughing and tells me it says "my head is in the clouds" or something like "I'm an idiot", hahaha...

So my friends be carefull, and if your sifu or school is non-chinese, check out the schools chinese characters 1st, they might be wrong or in the wrong order and make no sense. Their language is so different then ours. And do not try to find a literall translation, most of the time their is no such thing...


Joe :D

[Becca]

I have though about it. I do know what I'd do, just not sure if I want to.

It would be an arm band with the last line of "Dragon Warrior Code" writen as if it was one oth those old brass arm rings.

[David Jamieson]

no. my ink is from long ago.

[Shaolinlueb]

nope i havent. dont intend too. i think its kinda stupid...

[David Jamieson]

why do you think it's stupid lueb? just curious. I mean, tatooing oneself as a form of personal expression goes back almost to the beginning of history itself.

[joedoe]

I think it is a personal choice, like wearing jewellery or sporting the latest haircut. The only difference is that it is more permanent.

[JohnnyMnemonic]

I agree with the guy that says make sure you have someone you trust who can read chinese.

I had a shirt with a chinese character on it. Some lady told me it meant greedy american or something like that.

I read a story about a chinese guy that was laughing about the tattoos he put on people. If he didn't like them he would put something offensive on them.

[gfx]

You do realized that putting character tatoos on bodies used to be a form of punishment for criminals, and to label soldiers so they don't desert right?

Hey, as long as you think it's cool.

[neit]

my tattoo looks like okinawan mitsu-domoe, more or less. falls in the category of "triskelion". comments range from "oh a swastika" to "are those 3 oak leaves?".

[Becca]

You do realized that putting character tatoos on bodies used to be a form of punishment for criminals, and to label soldiers so they don't desert right?

Hey, as long as you think it's cool.
In which cultures? To make a stament like that, you really aught to back it up with something. And "my mom/history teacher/uncle Bob doesn't count. Something that you either link to or is coherent enough for someone to find on a Google. I'll post a bit latter a few link prooving that some cultures honor body markings, M'kay?

[PangQuan]

ya but those tattoos were generally on the face for one and two were of a derogitory manner befitting a criminal.

[red5angel]

In which cultures? To make a stament like that, you really aught to back it up with something. And "my mom/history teacher/uncle Bob doesn't count. Something that you either link to or is coherent enough for someone to find on a Google. I'll post a bit latter a few link prooving that some cultures honor body markings, M'kay?

Well we could start with the Maori, several tribes in Africa and south america and work our way up from there. It sounds like gfx is just a retard.

[BibitClerus]

i dont know about tattoing, but piercing and some modifications stuff there be some tribes that do and its not for prisoners.

Cacique Raoni for exemple:
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/photos/diplo/diplo0211/hp010859.jpg
http://www.arfoc.org.br/uploads/perfil/RAONI.jpg
http://www.areaindigena.hpg.ig.com.br/raoni.gif

Cacique btw is his title... basicly like a quite the awesome dude that rules... or in other words... the leader of his tribe, mkay :)

[Losttrak]

Shaolinlueb

nope i havent. dont intend too. i think its kinda stupid...

I agree here. I think the whole process of tattooing your martial arts organization is the equivalent of masturbation. You are simply trying to project and broadcast what you percieve is coolness so that everyone can see you are a spiffy martial artist.

The only thing that should tell the tale of what you are and what you do are the scars of your training. That should be telling enough.

[Losttrak]

Also, you might be shocked at the discrimination that flies your way in the search for gainful employment. Not to mention some jobs prohibit any sort of tattoo of any sort...

[PangQuan]

Employers may refuse to hire you for visible tattoos but otherwise is discrimination.

[Losttrak]

You are correct about it being discrimination, but they will never tell you why you were overlooked for a job or why you were let go. If they fire you for a tattoo, it will be "Performance Issues", or something of that nature. Discrimination always exists, but in more clever forms as society grows more litigous...

[PangQuan]

This is true. Thats why you have to be sneaky. Like Yakuza. Get what they call a "business suit". In essence you get tattoos that would not reveal themselves while in business attire. No one I work with would even suspect I have tattoos much less that I could kill them with my bear hands.

[PangQuan]

Now that I think about it my Sifu has a tat of Tamo. I think its nice, and very respectful to the memory of one who has contributed so much.

Sifu is an established man and has chosen to donate part of his temple to the memory and respect of an individual and ideal that has had a major influence in the art that has formed his life.

[ghost5]

Good point about visible tattoos. I have to work around clients that might not look at ink as a good thing. So I have all mine where a short sleeved shirt will cover it. I have many friends that have no idea I have any work done at all.

As far as letting others know I am a martial artist by the ink I have......see above. I did it for me and no other reason. It is not uncovered much and sure isn't an ad about what I do in my spare time. But I have seen many people that did that.....Oh look at me I studied , fill in the blank, see how dangerous I am. ;) But that is how I feel about folks that put bumper stickers on their cars telling what MA school they attend. But like my skin it is their car, so what do I know. :D

[gfx]

In which cultures? To make a stament like that, you really aught to back it up with something. And "my mom/history teacher/uncle Bob doesn't count. Something that you either link to or is coherent enough for someone to find on a Google. I'll post a bit latter a few link prooving that some cultures honor body markings, M'kay?

In which culture? Chinese.
I'm very much aware of the fact that some other culture honour tatoos, but they also put symbols of religious importance on themselves, not Chinese characters.

For tatooing for soldiers, this is a fact in the Song dynasty. Anecdote: The famous Nothern Song dynsty general Di Qing raised to this position from a common solider, hence he has tatoos on his face from his soldiering days. It seemed undiginified to the emperor, who offered to remove the tatoo for him. Di Qing refused and said: "Please leave it be as a sign of encouragence to the soldiers of the empire, that even a common soldier, fighting brave enough, can become a general."

tatoo used called CiZi in Chinese. Which means "pierced characters" ( suprise suprise ). In it's original form was a punishiment for criminals. Tatoos were put on their face. In Song dynasty, tatoos of characters were putted on soldier's face, arm or palm. This was done as a form of social control, so that the military and the civilians can be identified and hence controlled separately. However, Song was a heavily scholarized society, and military and martial classes were lowly regarded. Hence the popular Chinese view of "good men don't become soldiers". I don't agree with it, but that's just how it was. You can find tons of this kind of information if you search for 刺字历史 (CiZi history) on google.

The reason tatoo has always being regarded as a lowly activity is because of its direct conflict to confuciusm. In confuciusm, it's uptmost important to be filial. This include taking care of your body. The body was regarded as a gift from the parents, hence damaging, disfiguring it in anyway was seen as being unfilial. This is also the reason traditional Han Chinese don't cut their hair, and instead coil them on top of their head in a knot. The queue that was commonly viewed with Chinese was actually a Machurian custom, which included shaving the front half of the head. Needless to say when this style was being introduced, it encountered a lot of resistance. That's why Manchurians needed to push a "cut the hair or your head" policy, but I digress.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with getting a nice butterfly or something as a tatoo. Just that by getting a Chinese character tatoo, it'll remind a lot of Chinese of this fact. They'll probably snicker at you inside for doing something so stupid. At least I do :D.

Agree with me or not, just keep this info in mind if you are trying to get a Chinese character tatoo.

And red: Oh no! I'm a retard! *waves hand madly in air* :rolleyes:

[Becca]

Nope. I don't think you are a retard. I just figured you should let us in on how you came to have such strong opinions on the subject. Your point of identification and military are exactly why I have them. Tow, in fact. One is a meat tag (Silly jar-head tradition), the other is Jayne Wayne (also silly jar-head tradition). To anyone who wasn't a U.S. Marine, these things are meaningless. The tat I'm considering would also be meaningless to anyone who doesn't know the importance of the last line of the Dragon Warrior code. Or even that it is something other than just another tribal arm band. Even then, they'd have to realize it was Chinese and be able to read it.

[BibitClerus]

listen kids

let the kids who want tattoos have tattoos, no need for disrescpt
let the kids who dont want tattoos not have tattoos, no need for disrepsdstc

everybody happy now

you call me fat?
im fat, but i can lose weight if i want
and what about you who is UGLY?
HAHAHAHAHAH!

:D

[Becca]

And every fat-so says they can loose weight, but they never do... So which is worse, to be hideious and unable to do something about it, or be huge and unwilling to do something about it. ;)

[Becca]

... would be an ugly person who gets a tat of something foo-foo on thier belly, gains 200 lbs, then goes about showing the formerly recognizable image to unsuspecting victoms.

[BibitClerus]

hey! i was helping everybody out
dont me turning my magic against me

this guys are all fit... all fighters and soccer players bunch of em...
funny... position... they got there though
http://img77.echo.cx/img77/2977/boiolasrj26or.jpg

[Becca]

You missing the point. We like to fight on-line! If we loose, all we have to do is delete our posts...

[Akhilleus]

this guys are all fit... all fighters and soccer players bunch of em...

one of them is Bustamante

[BibitClerus]

Dude, those are Pequeno, Romario, Belfort, Pedro Rizzo and then theres Bustamante with a dude a cant remember teh name now
very gay pic :D

Rebelious young lady, you dare not raise your voice against my fat ever again... TATTOOED LADY!
you dont have the MORAL WIDTH to discuss this issues with me!

[Becca]

I was only speeking out if you are the one with the former butterfly on you tummy. I still have night terrors of giant, stretch-march scarred moth chasing me. :eek: :p

[BibitClerus]

i dont have the butterfly, but i have the stretch-marks
run, Becca, run!!
MUAHAHAHAHAH

[Vasquez]

Kung fu is a way of living, it has life philosophy, religion and you learn some chinese language as well. dong ma?

Learning self defence takes a life time, IMHO good sifus should choose students carefully.

[Becca]

Kung fu is a way of living, it has life philosophy, religion and you learn some chinese language as well. dong ma? Isn't Kung Fu a type of MA? MA being an accronym for Martial Arts? Then yes, if you are interested in the holistics side, you will be able to find a teacher who will teach it.


Learning self defence takes a life time, IMHO good sifus should choose students carefully. The dedicated study, true dedication, of anything requires a life time. I doubt any good sifu chooses thier student rashly.

I reiterate. I don't think you are a retard. But I am getting the very strong feeling that you are a styleistic bigot. Everyone is less than you, our teachers are eyots for accepting us, ect. I really hope I'm wrong.It's not often we get someone who is willing to have good serious debates around here. But I have absolutly no patience for style bigots.

[Vasquez]

Again LOL at what you said. some ppl don't know when perals of wisdom are placed infront of them. I happen a private student to chinese sifu who would not take students in rashly. I don't think ppl who train in community halls will understand what they're missing.

[Becca]

Who will penetrate this earth
& this realm of death
with all its gods?
Who will ferret out
the well-taught Dhamma-saying,
as the skillful flower-arranger
the flower?

The learner-on-the-path
will penetrate this earth
& this realm of death
with all its gods.
The learner-on-the-path
will ferret out
the well-taught Dhamma-saying,
as the skillful flower-arranger
the flower.

-Dhammapada, 4, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

[Vasquez]

Who will penetrate this earth
& this realm of death
with all its gods?
Who will ferret out
the well-taught Dhamma-saying,
as the skillful flower-arranger
the flower?

The learner-on-the-path
will penetrate this earth
& this realm of death
with all its gods.
The learner-on-the-path
will ferret out
the well-taught Dhamma-saying,
as the skillful flower-arranger
the flower.

-Dhammapada, 4, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Who will line the grave with flowers of the flower arranger when he dies?