Muay Thai tattoos

Lumpinee stadium,
Bangkok, Thailand

A Muay Thai fighter steps into the ring, his muscular yet lithe body glistening under the harsh lights. Etched on his back and arms are beautiful, intricate tattoos in faded blue ink.
As the fighter performs the Wai Khru, a highly ritual ceremony demonstrating respect for his teachers and trainers, a quiet confidence emanates from his whole being, and he seems infused with inordinate strength.
Years of hard training, countless hours of sweat and blood spilt on the dusty mats of his gym have sculpted his arms, legs, torso and neck into hard, yet supple instruments that can absorb as much of an impact as they can deliver.

His air of invulnerability however, stems from much more than just the knowledge he is physically well prepared for the fight: with him he carries a charm which makes him impervious to blows, a charm traced in blue beneath a thin layer of his skin. And this curious spell is called Sak Yant.

Sak Yant are Thai temple tattoos: traditional etchings made from a black ink that turns blue under the skin, and applied through a needle attached to a bamboo rod.
Though usually etched by Buddhist monks in Thailand, Sak Yant derive from beliefs that are animistic in nature. Often, they feature animals, such as the tiger for which the monks of Wat Bang Phra are famous, and -consequently- it is believed the wearer will exhibit the characteristics of these animals. Thus a tiger tattoo will lend them strength and protection from injury ; a dragon signifies strength and wisdom, a lion dignity and strength.
These tattoos can also consist of detailed geometrical patterns interweaved with prayers and spells that benefit the wearer, written in ancient Khmer script.

Sak Yant are of course not the sole preserve of Thai fighters, but one can easily see how the power of these sacred images would benefit the boxers. In Thailand, they are also increasingly worn by the youth, and gang members who so believe that the tattoos confer them invulnerability that they have become a growing concern for a police force struggling to intimidate them!

Paradoxically perhaps, young Thais influenced by occidental movies and fashion images long for tattoos such as those of their foreign idols, which they can ill-afford. Consequently, they turn to tattoo ajarns, traditional tattoo artists specializing in Sak Yant, who etch their skin at a fraction of the cost. Thus, Sak Yant have seen somewhat of a revival, and Bangkok now counts over one hundred tattoo ajarns, more than a few of them charlatans.

Each year, thousands of young men also flock to Wat Bang Phra, a Buddhist temple 30 miles from Bangkok, for a traditional festival where the monks tattoo them in exchange for small offerings of cigarettes, flowers and incense sticks. And with them come the tourists, attracted by the exposure and increasing commercialization of what has been branded an authentic Thai custom.

In conclusion, there is no such thing as a Muay Thai tattoo. What there is Sak Yant, a sacred tattoo often worn by -among others- Muay Thai fighters, and the meaning of which is slowly becoming denatured and corrupted.
Worn by Thais as a cheaper alternative to western tribal etchings, sought after by foreigners in search of authenticity and traditional art, fewer and fewer young Thai -not to mention foreign fighters- remain aware of the complex meanings carried by the pictures beneath their skin, most notably of their moral lessons.
For indeed, Sak Yant are said to become effective only if the wearer follows certain spiritual precepts, such as the five tenants of Buddhism, or after periods characterized by a vow of silence.

Sak Yant’s singular beauty remains however, and the pictures on this page are testimony to their aesthetic appeal and charm.
Sam Noyoun