Kanji tattoos

Friday, February 15, 2013

Skulls and skeletons tattoos (2)

Many people choose to get a skull tattoo because they want to show their affiliation to a group or to show their beliefs and their devotion to them.

The famous Jolly Roger (the black flag with a white skull and two human bones crossed under the skull) once used by pirates, was both an intimidating signal and a symbol of the total disregard for the authorities, as well as a symbol of the absolute freedom. This symbol (which is still preserving its original meaning) symbol was integrated into various systems of symbols belonging to different subculture or/and counterculture groups (like the outlaw motorcycle clubs whose members often get Jolly Roger tattoos to show their lawlessness). Sometimes, the anarchists use the "Jolly Roger" as a symbol of rebellion against the organized authority.



Jolly Roger tattoo: a pirate skull and two crossed pirate swords
a Jolly Roger tattoo


The Dead Man's Head consists usually of the human skull with or without the mandible and often includes two crossed long-bones (the femurs). Unlike the Jolly Roger design, the Dead Man's Head design features a skull with the crossbones placed behind the skull, instead of beneath it. The Dead Man's Head is an ancient symbol and has had different meanings over time; in the Elizabethan England, for instance, The Death's-Head Skull (usually a depiction without the lower jawbone), was emblematic of bawds, rakes, sexual adventurers and prostitutes; the term Deaths-Head was actually parlance for these rakes, and most of them wore half-skull rings to advertise their station, either professionally or otherwise. The original rings were wide silver objects, with a half-skull decoration not much wider than the rest of the band; this allowed it to be rotated around the finger to hide the skull in polite company, and to reposition it in the presence of likely conquests.

dead man's head ring
Dead Man's Head ring


The Totenkopf was used by the german Schutzstaffel (SS) as the unit's insignia. As a consequence of that, this particular design of the Dead Man's Head has become closely associated with various movements like the "white nationalist" movements, the "white power skinhead" movements and the "Neo-Nazi" movement.

a Totenkopf tattoo - a symbol of the Neo-Nazi movement
a Totenkopf tattoo - a tattoo design closely associated with the Neo-Nazi's ideology

the 3rd SS Division's Totenkopf flag
the 3rd SS Division's Totenkopf insignia

Totenkopf and Tatzenkreuz design
Totenkopf design; the draw also contain a variant of so-called "Cross Pattee (English: Cross Patty; German: Tatzenkreuz)"; the Cross Pattee is often mistakenly identified with the gothic crosses, but actually it is an ancient symbol which was largely used by the Teutonic Knights and sometimes by the Templiers. The Cross Pattee design was incorporated in the design of the "Iron Cross", a german decoration for military valor established by the King Frederick William III of Prussia in 1813. The Iron Cross remained in use, in various forms, by Prussia and later Germany until 1945.


Variations on the Skull and Crossbones are used by various military units as a symbol of strength, courage and bravure, as well as a symbol of the disregard for one's life. On wikipedia you can find a list of the Skull and crossbones military insignias.

the BOPE emblem
The BOPE emblem, a skull impaled on a sword, backed by two gold pistols sends out a strong, unambiguous message. The emblem symbolises armed combat, war and death. The BOPE’s emblem, a skull with a crisscross of pistols, is believed to possess mystical powers of protection. BOPE = Special Policial Operations Battalion, a special forces unit of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. If you want to know more about BOPE you can visit their blog or you can watch these two movies: Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within

Related posts:
Various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo: skulls and skeletons (1)
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo
Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
Death Tattoos / Grim Reaper Tattoos: themes and meanings
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo - animals

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo: skulls and skeletons (1)

Human skulls and skeletons are one of the most common elements in the Grim Reaper tattoos, due to the fact that skeletons and skulls have long been associated with death and decay (sometimes Death himself is portrayed as a skeleton).

skull tattoo / raven tattoo
the modern society associates skulls with decay, death and evil

Skull tattoos do represent death, but they usually represent the fleetingness of life. Various Latin maxims and aphorisms: Memento Mori (Remember your mortality, Remember you must die or Remember you will die), Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world), Carpe Diem (Seize the day), Ubi sunt...? (Where are...?) or Ubi nunc...? (Where now...?) - both of them are shortened variants of the Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt? Where are those who were before us?) are very often included in the skull tattoo designs; their role is to remind us that Death comes to us all, and for this reason is important to enjoy every moment of life.

skull tattoo / Memento mori tattoo
a very popular tattoo design: a skull and the latin maxim "Memento mori"

skull tattoo / flower tattoo
Seize the day or die regretting - a tattoo design which contains flowers (which symbolize brevity and the ephemeral nature of life) and a skull

Memento Mori tattoo / skull tattoo / tattoo on the arm
Memento Mori - the skull is a reminder of the mortality

As a symbol of the certainty of death, skulls are one of the most common symbols used in the Vanitas art

vanitas tattoo
vanitas tattoo containing a skull (a symbol of dead and mortality), several roses (symbols of the ephemeral nature of life), a candle (an object closely related with the cult of the dead) and a watch (a symbol of the inexorable flow of time)

vanitas tattoo
Vanitas tattoo: the beauty is ephemeral, Death awaits every man and woman

vanitas tattoo
a tattoo inspired by the illustration 'All is Vanity' by Charles Allan Gilbert

Despite the fact that the skull is often a symbol of mortality, a design which depicts a skull backed by a pair of wings (usually a pair of angelic wings, but this is not mandatory) is rather a positive design with various meanings: resurrection; death is the road to a new form of existence; the death frees one of the burdens of life; the progression of the human soul through the afterlife. Anyway, the winged skull is not always a positive design, having also many negative connotations: danger, death (death which can reach everyone everywhere), lawlessness (very common in the bikers-gang tattoos)


winged skull tattoo
a winged skull tattoo

winged skull tattoo
back tattoo: winged skull

bikers tattoos: winged skull tattoo
many biker gangs adopt the winged skull as one of their emblems

The skull is also a symbol of the transitory nature of life and death, and for this reason some designers choose to include a skull into more complex designs which represent the infinite cycle of the life and death.

skull tattoo / flower tattoo
the death (symbolized here by the skull) is a part of the infinite cycle of life


Related posts:
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo
Death tattoos: the main depictions of the Grim Reaper
Death Tattoos / Grim Reaper Tattoos: themes and meanings
Death tattoo - various elements which can occur in a Death tattoo - animals