Thailands Bamboo Tattoo?

Just a Tourist Tattoo or Thailands Biggest Tourist Scam?

Thailand’s Bamboo Tattoos are a recent (not traditional) style started and used by Tattoo Shops to take advantage of the popularity from tourist seeking Traditional Thai Sak Yant Tattoos.

Is the Bamboo Tattoo just a Tourist Tattoo for the naive or is the Greatest unknown Tourist Scam in Thailand?

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Thailand Bamboo Tattoos - A Modern Tourist Style with no Tradition

Thailand’s Bamboo Tattoos (using a Bamboo Needle and the Hand Poke style) is a modern marketing gimmick that developed about 20 years ago; to take advantage of the increasing popularity of the Spiritual and Traditional Thai Tattoos. Proponents of this bamboo style suggest that using bamboo needles and the hand poke technique is rooted in Thai culture and related to the sacred Sak Yant Tattoo. However, a closer examination of historical records and Traditional practices reveals that Thailands Bamboo Tattoos have no legitimate connection to authentic Thai Tattooing Traditions (Sak Yant).

In stark contrast to this ancient tradition of Spiritual and magically embedded Sak Yant tattoos, the modern trend of making counterfeit Sak Yants designs are a creation born of tourist demand. Originating around the early 2000s, the bamboo tattoos trend gained traction following incorrect international media reporting. International media used the term “Bamboo Tattoo” when reporting on celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Anthony Bourdain and Ed Sheeran getting Sak Yant Tattoos.

Tattoo parlors, eager to cash in on this trend, began offering a “bamboo” method in which tattoo needles are attached to a bamboo stick. This method is not derived from any age-old Thai practice but is rather a tourist gimmick designed to mimic the appearance of authentic Sak Yant Tattoos while completely omitting their spiritual and ritualistic essences .

Disclaimer: This page (and website) concerns itself ONLY with the Counterfeit Fake Sak Yant Tattoo's promoted by Tattoo Shops and Artists as 'Traditional Thai Bamboo Tattoos'. These specific Tourist Tattoo copies of the Spiritual Sak Yant are disrespectful to Thai People and Thai Culture when created by people not qualified in Magical Arts.The current modern trend of Tattooist offering and using the Hand Poked 'Bamboo Method' to make regular tattoo (non Sak Yant designs) for tourists is not of concern to adherents of Authentic Sak Yant Traditions

No Such thing as a Bamboo Tattoo or Bamboo Needle

With almost every Tattoo Parlor in Thailand having big signage on their windows like “Bamboo Tattoo”, “Traditional Thai Tattoo” or “Hand Poke Style”; you might wonder why there is no such thing as a Bamboo Tattoo? After all, you can see the signs on the tattoo shop window with many of the shops are naming themselves Bamboo Tattoo, and they do the hand poke method of applying the Tattoo. So how can we say there is no such thing as a Bamboo Tattoo?

Academic and Historical documents never mention Bamboo in Traditional Thai Tattooing practice. (The term is only 20-24 Years old)
No Bamboo Needles have ever been documented as being used (and are not in todays Tattoo Shops) except as a Prison Tattoo
Bamboo Needles are to light, do not hold ink and require several replacements for a single Tattoo
Tattoo Shops don't use Bamboo Needles or Sticks - But do promote the naviety of Tourists thinking they are real
Bamboo Tattoos require a lack of knowledge by tourists who do not know the difference between the Gimmick and Real Tattooing Tradition

Is Thailands Bamboo Tattoo just a Tourist Tattoo or a Tourist Scam?

In reality it is a little of both. (When the Tattoo Shop is making replica Sak Yant Designs)

First, very few Thai people will ever use the hand poked method of getting a tattoo. Getting a bamboo tattoo is almost exclusively a Tourist activity. Thai people know that the Hand poked method is an ancient system that was and still is used by Monks and Sak Yant Masters in Thailand and Cambodia for Magical and Spiritual Blessings in the form of a tattoo. If a Thai person wants a tattoo they will go to a tattooist who uses a machine that provides thinner lines and greater control for finer and better looking tattoos. If a Thai person wants a magical tattoo (called a Sak Yant) they will go to a qualified Spiritual person and not a Tattoo artist for it.

So the answer is Yes, the bamboo Tattoo as done by tattoo artists using the hand poke method is a Tourist Tattoo.

Second, Bamboo Tattooing is a highly profitable enterprise and employment opportunity in Thailand. The governmental agencies such as TAT (Tourist Authority of Thailand) and Thailands Ministry of Culture tend to turn a blind eye towards protecting Tourists from themselves. When a Tattoo Artist from a Tattoo shop intentionally implies that the counterfeit designs of Sak Yant they make are real … this is when the gimmick becomes a scam. Almost all tattoo Artists will copy the meaningless scribble from the designs whereas real Sak Yant Master recognize the errors and correct them with magical text. At the point where you are not informed that the tattoo you are getting is not only lacking in any Spiritual qualities, but is also meaningless dribble being tattooed onto you for life – The governmental agencies should step in to protect Thailands reputation.

So Yes, When the Tattoo Artist does not inform you they don’t understand what they are tattooing into you, but operate under the do not ask, do not tell – Bamboo tattoos are a Tourist Scam. If the Artists tells you they make an artistic replica in the style of a Sak yant and this is what you are wanting … this is honest reproduction of counterfeit culture.

When is it OK to get a Bamboo Tattoo in Thailand?

While the Thailand Bamboo Tattoo gimmick started out as a tourist driven desire for Spiritual Tradition; it has over the last two decades become a popular and successful tourist attraction. The history of the hand poked tattoo in Thailand is a factual and historic event; just that it was done by holy men, to make a sacred tattoo and did not employ bamboo at all.

Over the years the reputation for the artistic skill of Thailands Tattoo Artists has deservingly gained worldwide acknowledgement for their talent and skill. The skill and beauty of a modern hand poked bamboo tattoo has made it a unique method of getting a tattoo while in Thailand; despite it being a modern and not traditional method for doing tattoos that were not sacred and magical.

If a tourist wishes to get a Bamboo Tattoo in Thailand for a normal and modern design there is no problem at all in relation to disrespect to Thai Culture. It is only when a tourist wants to get a magical and sacred Sak Yant design from a tattoo artist and not from a qualified Sak Yant Master, does this disrespect come into play. Although if your choosen Tattoo Artist displays the Sak Yant designs and implies they are traditional or magical, then it is a question of the artists ethics and disrespect towards their own culture.

When Bamboo Tattoos are Disrespectful to Thai Culture

The real Traditional Thai Tattoo (Sak Yant) is and has always been preformed by Monks and Spiritual Holy Men within Thailand (1). A Tattoo Artist from a Tattoo shop can not do a genuine Sak Yant Tattoo, often copying incorrect text making them meaningless copies (2). Yet many of Thailand’s tattoo shops promote these designs under the banner of a ‘Traditional Thai Tattoo’, ‘Hand Poke’ or a ‘Bamboo Tattoo’ in tourist areas hoping to cash in on the Tourist demand from ignorance of the real Sak Yant.

Getting a Fake Sak Yant Tattoo design from a Tattoo Parlor is considered highly disrespectful in Thai Culture (3) and something that Thai people would never do themselves (4). Thai people would always seek a true Spiritual Tattoo from a real Sak Yant Master; someone who is qualified to administer it.

If you search online you might come away with the idea that Bamboo Tattoos along with Bamboo Needles is an ancient and Traditional Thai Tattoo practice using the Hand Poke method. This is simply not the case. There are No mentions of Bamboo being used to administer Sak Yant Tattoos in either

1) History of Monks or Sak Yant Masters, or
2) Academic or Historical literature about Sak Yant Tattoos.

That is over 1000 years of Thai Tattooing history that have no mention of Bamboo Needles or Bamboo Tattooing in Sak Yant Culture. Although there are a very few mentions from poor rural areas who when they couldn’t use a bicycle wheel spoke resorted to cutting Bamboo as a last resort.

Report the Sak Yant Bamboo Tattoo Scam!

Tattoo Shops and Artists who advertise or claim they provide authentic Sak Yant Tattoos are scamming the public. Promoted under the various misleading names of ‘Traditional Thai Tattoo’ or ‘Bamboo Tattoo’, if they are not a legitimate Sak Yant Master they should be reported to the Thailand Ministry of Culture

Academic and Historical References

(1). Thai Tattoos, the symbolic lines of faith National Geographic. Nov 4 2020. https://ngthai.com/cultures/31619/thai-traditional-tattoos

(2) Why you don’t Get a Bamboo Tattoo at a Tattoo Shop sakyantchiangmai.com Oct 2022 https://sakyantchiangmai.com/sak-yant-bamboo-tattoo/

(3) Study of Thai and Japanese Tattoo. 1996 Nantchaya Mahakhan Burapha University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences https://buuir.buu.ac.th/xmlui/handle/1234567890/549

(4) Communication and Perception of the Meaning of ‘Tattoos’ in Contemporary Thai Society’, Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University, by Suksan Kamolsantiroj, 2005 https://cuir.car.chula.ac.th/handle/123456789/8025

(5) Tattoo Culture in Lana Sept 6 2022. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre. Phudech Saensa https://www.sac.or.th/portal/th/article/detail/371

(6). Sak Yant tattooing as Thai soft power. Department of Public Administration Faculty of Political Science Ramkhamhaeng University. Krissada Promvek. And Prachaya Chumnaseaw 2024. http://www.hurujournal.ru.ac.th/journals/35_1719810573.pdf

(7) Thailand To Tattoo Tourists: Think Before You Ink NPR Radio June 20, 2011