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The hand-tap tattoo revival


Traditional hand-tapping instruments. Photo by Ime Morales

I have an 18-year old tattoo on my back. It was done by tattoo artist Mike Sambajon one wicked night long ago when I was barely out of my teens. The design was unfinished, however, and I have always waited for the perfect time to complete the picture.

It finally came some days ago—with so many years in between and much of life happening so quickly, the tattoo had been forgotten—when a friend invited me to watch a hand-tapping session in Katribu Tatu, a small tattoo shop in Pasig. It was an incredible, almost spiritual experience just watching the hand-tap tattooist rhythmically strike the instrument with a wooden stick. I knew right there that my old tat was going to get finished soon, the hand-tap way.

Manila’s only hand-tap tattoo artists

Katribu Tatu's Jonathan Cena. Photo courtesy of Katribu Tatu
Jonathan Cena and wife Jean Sioson put up Katribu Tatu in Buting, Pasig only last year, bringing their art closer to Metro Manila residents. Previously, the couple ran a tattoo shop in Paranaque for a year, and in Boracay for 3 years. Jonathan has been inking skin (traditional hand-tap) since 2003, and Jean, inspired and encouraged by her partner, began to take up the art around 4 years ago. Katribu Tatu specializes in Philippine tribal designs, either done through the traditional way of hand-tapping or with the use of a tattoo machine.

“If you want to experience it the traditional Filipino way, we’ll hand-tap your tattoo,” says Jonathan. “Machine is faster, you get a tattoo in minutes,” Jean adds. But an artist’s skill would really come out in hand-tapping since there is no relying on the machine. In Jean’s words, “it’s all in the pulse—you’ll tap the instrument yourself and control the depth and speed of the movements.”

Philippine tattoo culture

Katribu Tatu's Jean Sioson at work. Photo by Ime Morales
Batek is the Kalinga term for the traditional tattoos or inscriptions found on the skin of Northern Luzon natives, who view batek as a symbol of valor. In her paper “Batek: Traditional Tattoos and Identities in Contemporary Kalinga, North Luzon Philippines,” Analyn Ikin Salvador-Amores writes that tattoos were not only done in connection with the practice of headhunting. Our ancestors viewed tattoos as cultural symbols and as such, are part and parcel of their various rituals, traditions and life’s turning points.

As a visual artist and cultural worker, Jonathan decided to focus on the art of tattooing. “The art that I do is connected to our culture—and when your culture is permanently tattooed on your skin, you can’t forget your roots wherever you go.”  

Blessings of Apo Whang Od

The author gets her first hand-tapped piece from Katribu Tatu. Photo by Jean Sioson
Apo Whang Od is the Philippines’s last mambabatok (hand-tap tattoo artist). At 93 years old, she still passionately practices the traditional way of hand-tap tattooing in her small village of Buscalan in Tinglayan, Kalinga. In 2012, Jonathan and Jean visited Apo Whang Od to get tattooed and to meet a legend.

“We showed her our tools and she told us to continue our work,” Jean recalls. It was a form of blessing. In her overwhelmed gladness, Jean actually cried. “To see her in person, talk to her, get a tattoo from her…” she trails off. “She asked what kind of charcoal and thorn we were using, and even suggested that we could use thorns from the calamansi plant if suha is not available,” Jean says. Apo Whang Od even taught them the proper and easier way to hold the wooden instruments.

Hurts so good

If you can take the pain of heartbreak, you can take the pain of a tattoo—a hackneyed phrase for many tattoo lovers, but nevertheless true. I lay on my tummy and felt the initial sting from the needle as Jean tapped along the design on my skin. The tapping went on for three hours as the skin became raw, red and sore. A few times, I fell in between sleep and wakefulness, actually feeling rather relaxed from the rhythmic throbbing. We finished past midnight and I felt complete.

In a few days, I’m getting another one. This time on my leg. — VC, GMA News


If you’re interested in getting tattooed the traditional way, try hand-tap. You can find Katribu Tatu on Facebook.
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