Tattoos are not a fad, its not even a recent phenomenon. It has been practiced for thousands of years already. Here is a look at some of the most traditional types of tattoos and what they represent.

Chinese Symbol Tattoo

Chinese symbol tattoos are the most popular as well as beautiful and exotic ones. According to women, the Chinese symbols are alluring them because of their subtle meanings and themes that express the feelings of love, hope and freedom. Anything subtly expressed is always embraced by feminine species. These tattoos are also strongly associated with martial art movies, men are attracted to these types of tattoo designs. These Chinese tattoos started more than 4000 years ago. In Chinese writing consists of large number of symbols rather than alphabets and the speech or ideas are conveyed through these symbols. There are certain things to keep in mind before getting a Chinese symbol tattoo such as the words selected should be translated accurately. Consult a specialist of Chinese tattoo who know the individual meaning of the symbols to avoid the wrong meaning.

Japanese Symbol Tattoo

These tattoos are popular in western countries such as America and Europe. The tattooing has been practicing for thousand of years in Japan. In the beginning the Japanese prisoners were identified through the permanent tattoos and more design came that was liked by the prostitutes and gangsters. Artisans and laborers also start practicing tattooing among the working class. They were the first Japanese adopted tattooing of whole body with a superstition that the tattooing will protect from danger.

Kanji

The Japanese tattoo of American version has been classified into artwork and calligraphy and the Kanji letterform became more popular. In Kanji tattoos we see Chinese characters that are used in Japanese language. Kana and Kanji are the two types of characters that are used in Japanese writing. The meanings of the characters in Chinese and Japanese may be the same but they are pronounced differently or entirely with different meanings. Some of the kanji were evolved in Japan and cannot be seen in the Chinese language.

Maori

The Maori tattoos are one of the unique types of tattoos in the world and have their own identity among the Polynesian tattoos. This type of tattooing is sacred among the Maori people in New Zealand. Maori tattoos are beautiful with curved and spiral shapes in intricate patterns and the most common of tattooing the Maori tattoos was the face may be because of the cold climate.