One ocean · eight traditions
The Polynesian tattoo family
The Polynesian triangle holds eight distinct, still-living tattoo traditions. Each has its own name, tools, motifs and rules. Start anywhere — the lineages all connect.
For citation-backed tools, techniques, ceremonies and colonial suppression / revival history for each tradition, see the sourced reference guide.
Samoa · Western Polynesia
Samoan
Tatau
Samoan tatau is the oldest continuously practiced tattoo tradition in Polynesia. The word 'tattoo' itself entered English from the Samoan tatau.
13 photos in gallery
Aotearoa / New Zealand
Māori
Tā moko
Tā moko is the Māori practice of carving pigment into the skin with uhi chisels. Every moko is a unique whakapapa — a genealogical signature.
14 photos in gallery
Marquesas Islands · Eastern Polynesia
Marquesan
Patu Tiki
The densest, most figurative tattoo tradition in Polynesia — high-status Marquesans could be tattooed head to toe, faces included.
11 photos in gallery
Hawaiʻi · Eastern Polynesia
Hawaiian
Kākau
Kākau was the tattooing of chiefs and warriors of the Hawaiian Islands, hand-tapped with albatross-bone combs and inks of kukui-nut soot.
7 photos in gallery
Society Islands · French Polynesia
Tahitian
Tatau (Society Islands)
The Tahitian word tatau — recorded by Joseph Banks on Cook's first voyage in 1769 — is the source of the English word 'tattoo'.
5 photos in gallery
Kingdom of Tonga · Western Polynesia
Tongan
Tatatau
Tongan tatatau was the twin practice of Samoan tatau — the two traditions grew from the same root and men of rank were tattooed with near-identical waist-to-knee designs.
0 photos in gallery
Cook Islands · Central Eastern Polynesia
Cook Islands
Tātatau Māori
A close cousin of Society Islands and Māori tattooing, Cook Islands tātatau was noted by Cook's crew and later suppressed under the London Missionary Society before reviving alongside a wider Pacific renaissance.
3 photos in gallery
Rapa Nui (Easter Island) · Eastern Polynesia
Rapa Nui
Tatu
The most easterly Polynesian tattoo tradition, Rapa Nui tatu shared design language with body painting (takona) and with the island's famed rongorongo glyphs.
4 photos in gallery
Fiji · Western Polynesia / Melanesia border
Fijian
Veiqia
Veiqia was Fiji's traditional women's tattoo — dense, curvilinear thigh and buttock work applied at puberty as the central marker of womanhood in iTaukei culture. It has been undergoing a formal revival since 2015.
7 photos in gallery
Pick a tradition and go deeper
Each culture has its own vocabulary, rules, and living artists. Start where your story sits.