A Spot of Hawaiian Ink on the New York City Subway

Earlier this week, I <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2012/01/tattoosday-goes-tribal-on-ink-master.html">posted</a> about my experience on <a href="http://www.spike.com/shows/ink-master"><i>Ink Master</i></a>, getting a tribal tattoo that was inspired by my upbringing in Hawai'i. Do note that I have not referred to this as a <i>Hawaiian</i> tribal piece, which is a whole different thing altogether.<br /><br />Just to illustrate, one of my "leftover" posts from 2011 is this tattoo:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO19izVz0RZddy-aOGWpZlkNqSLKQY-GGo0TgxXiAEn467hHzz92Qfx9faKxn9j5cnZ9tsW-knXXRrkNMPDBDJTwvomgz6YWYgahHAkyNSJ_O2G8j6PaUsUK5RbL59MSpKYHDV7vuhmq4/s1600/hawaii+subway+leg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO19izVz0RZddy-aOGWpZlkNqSLKQY-GGo0TgxXiAEn467hHzz92Qfx9faKxn9j5cnZ9tsW-knXXRrkNMPDBDJTwvomgz6YWYgahHAkyNSJ_O2G8j6PaUsUK5RbL59MSpKYHDV7vuhmq4/s640/hawaii+subway+leg.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><br />This was a real treat for me, spotting an authentic Hawaiian tattoo, in New York City of all places.<br /><br />Looking back to last June, I had just attended a networking event at <a href="http://www.bowlmor.com/timessquare/home.php">Bowlmor Lanes</a> in Times Square and was headed home to Brooklyn. On the 8th Avenue subway platform at 42nd Street, I spotted a bunch of folks with t-shirts bearing Hawaiian names. I got to chatting with them. Turns out they were affiliated with<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb"> <a href="http://familyprogramshawaii.org/resources/na-keiki-o-ka-moi-canoe-club/">Na Keiki O Ka Mo'i</a>, an outrigger canoe club from Wai'anae, Hawai'i, and they were in town to compete in the <a href="http://newyorkoutrigger.org/press110127.php">2011 Liberty World Outrigger Competition.</a> </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">I was shocked. Outrigger canoes in the East River? I've lived in New York for almost 15 years and never knew that this existed in the Big Apple!</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">There was a whole lot of local folks from Hawai'i on the platform, and when an express and local train pulled in simultaneously, chaos erupted as the visitors scattered into both downtown trains.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">I sat down on an "A" train next to a handful of the group and struck up a conversation with a few people. I spoke with one guy, in particular, named <a href="http://www.facebook.com/samkapoi">Sam "Kamu" Kapoi</a>. Go figure, the talk turned to tattoos and Sam stretched out his left leg to show me his ink.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">Sam and I have kept in touch, so I was able to get some additional information on this piece.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">Sam is a filmmaker and was accompanying the group as they competed in New York.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb">The art of Hawaiian tattoo has deep roots in the culture of the islands, and every aspect of a tattoo has personal meaning that is often held very privately by the tattooed individual. You just don't go up to someone with a Hawaiian tattoo and ask, "So what does it mean?"  </span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmER7bQdqlS8tCOCNDpVixRe3Vma9OLmXQ3ydsjwVLBLrNbDWjI9WGDcPpkqFJ42VYC-FhwykfMLFesS5nIh7KsZUvTcxlYccV9JBpbOSOyIC5_Xo1dsJsaBnTH-s6COfszVgJSF7BIek/s1600/Hawaiian+subway+tribal+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmER7bQdqlS8tCOCNDpVixRe3Vma9OLmXQ3ydsjwVLBLrNbDWjI9WGDcPpkqFJ42VYC-FhwykfMLFesS5nIh7KsZUvTcxlYccV9JBpbOSOyIC5_Xo1dsJsaBnTH-s6COfszVgJSF7BIek/s400/Hawaiian+subway+tribal+detail.jpg" width="211" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sam said it himself in a message to me, "the tattoo itself ... is my family design, very sacred." He credited his artist as <a href="http://honoluluweekly.com/cover/story-continued/2007/07/keone-nunes/">Keone Nunes</a>, who specializes in traditional Hawaiian tattoos and uses the tapping method.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's a nice clip on YouTube with Mr. Nunes discussing the art of <i>kakau</i>:</div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="284" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/urWcEGG8ieI" width="500"></iframe><br /><br />The juxtaposition of this illustration compared to my own experience getting a tribal piece on a tattoo reality show is stark. Whereas I love my new tattoo, I in no way hold it in the same high regard as the traditional art of kakau in Hawai'i. I feel honored to have been lucky to come across an example, by chance, in New York.<br /><br />A big <i>mahalo nui loa</i> to Sam for sharing his traditional Hawaiian ink with us here on Tattoosday.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="profileName fn ginormousProfileName fwb"> </span></span><br /><span class="mainButtonSpan" id="mainbuttonspan"></span>

A Spot of Hawaiian Ink on the New York City Subway

Earlier this week, I posted about my experience on Ink Master , getting a tribal tattoo that was inspired by my upbringing in Hawai'i. ...

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