Kau i ke kukulu

"Kau i ke kukulu" Roughly translates to building on the foundation. This phrase best describes my personal journey through tattoos. My first tattoo I received was when I graduated high school and was on my shoulder. That tattoo for me represented my family, my transition into a new stage of life as well as the mo'o. The mo'o or lizard was one of the many 'aumakua worshiped throughout the islands and one of the most famous lived not too far from where I live now. Panaewa(the mo'o) was famous his epic battles against Pele and Hi'iaka. However, mo'o as a word was a very important one to the Hawaiians. Mo'o, besides meaning lizard, was also a prefix to a lot of powerful hua'olelo. For example Mo'olelo, Mo'okuauhau, Mo'opuna, and so on. The basic gist of this is that it represents lineal movement through time, generations, and stories. This mo'o was the beginning of my tattoo journey.

The newest work is something a little different. It's Traditional Hawaiian designs with a little bit of asian flow to it. It is also the next step in my journey. The first part(on my shoulder) was to represent my family and to know that I have a strong foundation in them. This next step is for protection as I set forth on my own journey as a young man. My journey through life is nowhere near being done...and neither is my tattoo journey!

All about progression

The aftermath of session number two on the pe'a. We stuck with the sort of Filipino feel with the turtle shell pattern but we also started putting in the Samoan designs as well. This is definitely a more modern version of the traditional pe'a. The part the goes from his back and on to his hip is a representation of the lashing that was used to bind the houses together. The part on his lower back(i call it his "tramp stamp" haha) is the kawa bowl with different patterns represented in the lashing of the houses. *The Kawa bowl design was done by my mentor, Uncle Ni

The road to manhood

In Samoa,when a boy was to become a man, he was put to the ultimate test, the pe'a. The pe'a traditionally, was tattooed on a boy when he was ready to become a man and was done to test and push the boys pain tolerance. It was also to protect the boy for his life as a man. Each design was significant and were based off of different things in nature that inflicted pain.

For this Pe'a that I started on a friend of mine with the help of my mentor, Rodney Powell, the meaning for it is the same but the designs are a little different. Traditionally, the pe'a is tattooed from top to bottom so that is what we did as well. The first element is always the wa'a which represents the journey. This wa'a is based off of the Hawaiian style wa'a with traditional Filipino designs incorporated with in it.

This tattoo is and will be symbolic for the both of us because it is his first tattoo as well as my first tattoo of this magnitude. Malo Kupaianaha! Congratulations on the beginning of your journey.

Mommy's new tattoo

So my mom and I were talking about finishing up her back that our tattoo artist had started but I had to decline the offer because it wasn't my project. Instead of that, we decided to do something for the youngest of the three boys, Pono. When My mom got her tattoos for me and my older brother, it was for graduation but she decided to get this one a little sooner, just in case when the time comes around he might not want to get one. However, this tattoo is much more that just a tattoo of the youngest in our family, it's also to represent the completion of our family. The he'e design along the outside of it represents Pono, and how hes a little more reserved and to himself that the rest of us but he always had a good grasp on things just like the octopus. He also has the eye for seeing he'e while diving which any local knows, is hard. The four Iwa represent the four men in my moms life, my dad, my older brother, me, and pono. And the lauhala pattern on symbolizes her family strength and unity. And the "Kapua'i" design between the lauhala represent the steps of her kupuna.