Jump to content

Muay Thai tattoos that aren’t Sak Yant?


Recommended Posts

I want to get a Muay Thai tattoo because it changed who I am as a person, my world perspective, yadda, yadda. The thing is, I’m not “legit” enough for a Sak Yant. I haven’t trained in Thailand, am not closely tied to Thai culture outside of Muay Thai, don’t consider myself a Buddhist, and would definitely feel like a bit of a fraud getting one. I *do not* look at other people in a similar position the same way so this isn’t a criticism of anyone in a similar situation who has gotten one.

The question is, are there any Muay Thai tattoos that aren’t Sak Yant that are not completely hokey or ridiculous? Or is this just best left alone and the idea scrapped entirely? Is it disrespectful to the tradition of the sport and would only serve to Westernize something not really meant for westerners outside of training?

I’m not looking for an answer I want to hear on some of the cultural questions. Seriously seeking some thoughtful considerations. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi 🙂 

SakYants Aren’t just for Muay Thai fighters, lots of people who aren’t fighters have Sak yants.

It’s a tradition too that is based on animalism and Magic so it not just Buddhism:) 
 

But if Sak Yants don’t resonate how about  finding a symbol that represents what Muay Thai means.... 

Like does training MT bring freedom? Maybe freedom written in Thai? Or something like that. 

I hope I’ve helped lol 

 

  • Like 2
  • Nak Muay 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/22/2020 at 1:04 AM, Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu said:

Tattoos are quite personal, so whatever brings you association to your experiences with Muay Thai is appropriate. You could chose a word written in Thai, or an image (the things to consider here are if you get a mongkol, for example, placement has to be high on your body).

Thank you! That is good starting point for picking a design. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/16/2020 at 2:06 AM, SHELL28 said:

Hi 🙂 

SakYants Aren’t just for Muay Thai fighters, lots of people who aren’t fighters have Sak yants.

It’s a tradition too that is based on animalism and Magic so it not just Buddhism:) 
 

But if Sak Yants don’t resonate how about  finding a symbol that represents what Muay Thai means.... 

Like does training MT bring freedom? Maybe freedom written in Thai? Or something like that. 

I hope I’ve helped lol 

 

Thank you! More good info. I thought about the word in Thai thing but soooo much could go wrong there. Kinda like the Chinese symbols that people got in the 90s and 2000s that are supposed to say freedom but actually translate to chicken diarrhea or some such ridiculousness. I sure don’t want to be that asshole. 🤣

  • hahaha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/15/2020 at 11:21 PM, CatherineS said:

Seriously seeking some thoughtful considerations. 

As others have mentioned, sak yant aren't really "for" Muay Thai. In fact they are seldom prominent in most prominent Thai Muay Thai fighters. They are kind of from the under-class of Thailand, much as perhaps tattoos in general were in western countries for a very long time. And, some of that under class become fighters. But...mostly they are just symbolic representations of protection, or power, believed in an an animistic level. A sak yant of a tiger may just be summoning up "tiger energy", the ability to command, stalking forcefulness, etc. It could apply to anything in life.

So...sak yant could just tap into or express the underfeelings of what Muay Thai has brought to you, without being some sort of "bro" appropriation. Your own attempt to get in touch with that thing, that meaningfulness. Or, maybe not.

In either case, I would say to just get in touch with that thing that Muay Thai has done for you, brought to you, and then find some representation that speaks to that for you. Maybe its nothing that looks like its related to Muay Thai at all...but YOU know it's about Muay Thai. Or, perhaps, if there is a particular heroic fighter who inspires you, then perhaps something related to their image.

As for words, Sylvie's discussed a series of Thai words that embody the spirit of Muay Thai, I'm sure she would double check the graphic for you before you got it tattoo'd. This was one: Ning:

1115080572_NingMuayThai.jpg.23667ef72aea964685b08d1af42d5eac.jpg

 

https://web.facebook.com/sylviemuaythai/photos/a.134623809905091/2636651226368991

  • Like 3
  • Super Slick 1
  • Respect 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/25/2020 at 11:34 PM, Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu said:

As others have mentioned, sak yant aren't really "for" Muay Thai. In fact they are seldom prominent in most prominent Thai Muay Thai fighters. They are kind of from the under-class of Thailand, much as perhaps tattoos in general were in western countries for a very long time. And, some of that under class become fighters. But...mostly they are just symbolic representations of protection, or power, believed in an an animistic level. A sak yant of a tiger may just be summoning up "tiger energy", the ability to command, stalking forcefulness, etc. It could apply to anything in life.

So...sak yant could just tap into or express the underfeelings of what Muay Thai has brought to you, without being some sort of "bro" appropriation. Your own attempt to get in touch with that thing, that meaningfulness. Or, maybe not.

In either case, I would say to just get in touch with that thing that Muay Thai has done for you, brought to you, and then find some representation that speaks to that for you. Maybe its nothing that looks like its related to Muay Thai at all...but YOU know it's about Muay Thai. Or, perhaps, if there is a particular heroic fighter who inspires you, then perhaps something related to their image.

As for words, Sylvie's discussed a series of Thai words that embody the spirit of Muay Thai, I'm sure she would double check the graphic for you before you got it tattoo'd. This was one: Ning:

1115080572_NingMuayThai.jpg.23667ef72aea964685b08d1af42d5eac.jpg

 

https://web.facebook.com/sylviemuaythai/photos/a.134623809905091/2636651226368991

Thank you! This is quite helpful for finding a place to start. Tattoos are permanent and I’m old enough to know that you do NOT want something permanently on your body if you aren’t 100% sure about it and of course I don’t want to be a disrespectful appropriating asshole. 
 

I appreciate you spending the time to clarify these things and providing some great insight. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...
  • 8 months later...

Recently, Sak Yant has been referred to as “Muay Thai Tattoo.”  Actually, because of its protective and blessed meanings, it was often associated with warriors, combatants, and anyone looking for its protective powers.   But why are so few Thai fighters getting Sak Yant in comparison to their Western Nak Muay counterparts?  Is it not derived from the ancient practice as depicted in movies involving ancient Thai warriors?  In order to understand this in the context of modern Thai culture, you have to separate the “Sak" from the “Yant."  Sak means tattoo.  Yant is the actual blessed protective scripture.  Yant could actually be inscribed on surfaces other than skin.  In Theravada Buddhism, which in Thai culture is actually mixed with older indigenous beliefs, the Yant is often placed on amulets and cloth.  It has always been in existence, and Thai fighters are often wearing amulets with Yant inscribed somewhere on them.  Its connection with the ancient warriors was transferred from skin to another media, not abandoned. Yant can even be on Buddha amulets.  In contrast, Sak is very intertwined with societal norms and to a large extent fashion.  In the modern era, Sak or tattoo only became mainstream recently.  Prior to this it was associated with gangsters and the less desirable elements of society.  Even in the United States, establishments like West Point only recently allowed its cadets to have tattoos because military officers could not have tattoos while lower-ranked enlisted soldiers were allowed to.  I myself have a lot of tattoos (including Sak Yant) and my Thai mom, when she was alive, never did like them.  She often told me that since I have an advanced degree, I should not get tattoos.  This was the society that she grew up in.   So it’s easy to understand why even when Golden Era fighters got Sak Yant on rare occasions, it was minimal in contrast to the full upper torso.  Many Muay Thai boxers like others in society did not promote deviation from social norms.  Fast forward to now, and tattoos are ubiquitous and no longer tantamount to stigma. Yet, the other variable influencing choice of Sak is fashion.  Unless you’re a complete follower of the practice as can be observed at the annual Sak Yant Tattoo Festival, many Thais (fighters or not) are often influenced by foreign fashion.  So once tattoos were more accepted, the choice was still primarily other foreign styles as opposed to traditional Thai.  Then a global Western star, Angelina Jolie, made huge headlines with her Sak Yant in Thailand.  Suddenly Thai celebrities were in line getting the Thai traditional tattoo in the same “Ha-Taew” fashion as the Western star.  Ajarn Noo Kanpai who tattooed Angelina became highly sought "overnight."  In contrast, it was increasingly more fashionable, exotic and/or a spiritual connection for foreign Nak Muays to adopt the traditional protective tattoos likes the ancient Thai warriors.  Many have said it gave them more connection to Muay Thai.  As it becomes more and more common among Western Nak Muays, perhaps the Thai fighters will come back around and have the Yant back on their skin, as can be seen on Sudsakorn and Saiyok.  In short, the Yant never left the lineage (being on cloth, amulet, etc.), but the Sak did… until maybe now.  If you're not interested in the Yant portion of it, just get a Sak of something meaningful to you.

  • Respect 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...
21 hours ago, Matty said:

@Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu can you please type out Ning in Thai? I'm considering a tattoo, but would like to play around with different fonts. Thanks!

นิ่ง

If you were to use it the way one would say it in Thai, you'd repeat it. The symbol at the end of the following version is the "repeat 1x" symbol. So it's "ning ning". It's not a necessary component at all, it just makes it more colloquial.

นิ่งๆ

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/1/2022 at 9:07 PM, Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu said:

นิ่ง

If you were to use it the way one would say it in Thai, you'd repeat it. The symbol at the end of the following version is the "repeat 1x" symbol. So it's "ning ning". It's not a necessary component at all, it just makes it more colloquial.

นิ่งๆ

Thanks Sylvie 😊

Is "ning ning" used like an adjective?

Is นิ่ง meant to be used in the context of formal writing? In Cantonese, writing and speaking would used different words to refer to the same thing. I am wondering if that's the case for Thai.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Most Recent Topics

  • Latest Comments

    • Some Shocked, Depressed Some shocked the 3x FOTY Panpayak loses on ONE, knocked out. It's funny, you design a sport so that globalizable White Guys will beat Thai guys, and then fans are surprised that happens. It's baked into the DNA of the sport design. Some Reddit comments.    
    • The Chicken Wing Punch in Thailand my answer below to this Reddit question, which the moderators for some reason deleted. Who knows why, maybe some kind of AI filter, etc? This is a very interesting subject though, reflecting on the way techniques get preserved and passed on. Do people who do muay thai punch oddly? The author then went onto describe how they've been told by some that they punch like they are throwing an elbow, but that this is how their coach taught them. I assume you are talking about straights and crosses. In most examples, in Thailand this chicken wing punch honestly is likely just a collective bad habit developed out of bad padholding, often with wider and wider held pads (speculatively, sometimes because Thais hold for very large Westerners and don't want to take the full brunt of power all day long). It also has proliferated because Thailand's Muay Thai has moved further and further away from Western Boxing's influence, which once was quite pronounced (1960s-1990s, but reaching back to the 1920s). Today's Thai fighters really have lost well-formed punching in many cases. It has been put out there that this is the "Thai punch" (sometimes attributing it to some old Boran punching styles, or sometimes theoretically to how kicks have to be checked, etc), but Thais didn't really punch like this much 30 years ago if you watch fights from that time. It's now actually being taught in Thailand though, because patterns proliferate. People learn it from their padmen and krus (I've even heard of Thai krus correcting Westerners towards this), and it gets passed on down the coaching tree. Mostly this is just poorly formed striking that's both inaccurate and lacking in power, and has been spreading across Thailand the last couple of decades. There are Boran-ish punching styles that have the elbow up, but mostly, at least as I suspect, that's not what's happening. We've filmed with maybe (?) 100 legends and top krus of the sport and none of them punch with the "chicken wing" or teach it, as far as I can recall.
    • The BwO and the Muay Thai Fighter As Westerners and others seek to trace out the "system" of Muay Thai, bio-mechanically copying movements or techniques, organizing it for transmission and export, being taught by those further and further from the culture that generated it, what is missed are the ways in which the Thai Muay Thai fighter becomes like an egg, a philosophical egg, harboring a potential that cannot be traced. At least, one could pose this notion as an extreme aspect of the Thai fighting arts as they stand juxtaposed to their various systemizations and borrowings. D&G's Body Without Organs concept speculatively helps open this interpretation. Just leaving this here for further study and perhaps comment.   from: https://weaponizedjoy.blogspot.com/2023/01/deleuzes-body-without-organs-gentle.html Artaud is usually cited as the source of this idea - and he is, mostly (more on that in the appendix) - but, to my mind, the more interesting (and clarifying) reference is to Raymond Ruyer, from whom Deleuze and Guattari borrow the thematics of the egg. Consider the following passage by Ruyer, speaking on embryogenesis, and certain experiments carried out on embryos: "In contrast to the irreversibly differentiated organs of the adult... In the egg or the embryo, which is at first totally equipotential ... the determination [development of the embryo -WJ] distributes this equipotentiality into more limited territories, which develop from then on with relative autonomy ... [In embryogenesis], the gradients of the chemical substance provide the general pattern [of development]. Depending on the local level of concentration [of chemicals], the genes that are triggered at different thresholds engender this or that organ. When the experimenter cuts a T. gastrula in half along the sagittal plane, the gradient regulates itself at first like electricity in a capacitor. Then the affected genes generate, according to new thresholds, other organs than those they would have produced, with a similar overall form but different dimensions" (Neofinalism, p.57,64). The language of 'gradients' and 'thresholds' (which characterize the BwO for D&G) is taken more or less word for word from Ruyer here. D&G's 'spin' on the issue, however, is to, in a certain way, ontologize and 'ethicize' this notion. In their hands, equipotentiality becomes a practice, one which is not always conscious, and which is always in some way being undergone whether we recognize it or not: "[The BwO] is not at all a notion or a concept but a practice, a set of practices. You never reach the Body without Organs, you can't reach it, you are forever attaining it, it is a limit" (ATP150). You can think of it as a practice of 'equipotentializing', of (an ongoing) reclaiming of the body from any fixed or settled form of organization: "The BwO is opposed not to the organs but to that organization of the organs called the organism" (ATP158). Importantly, by transforming the BwO into a practice, D&G also transform the temporality of the BwO. Although the image of the egg is clarifying, it can also be misleading insofar as an egg is usually thought of as preceding a fully articulated body. Thus, one imagines an egg as something 'undifferentiated', which then progressively (over time) differentiates itself into organs. However, for D&G, this is not the right way to approach the BwO. Instead, the BwO are, as they say, "perfectly contemporary, you always carry it with you as your own milieu of experimentation" (ATP164). The BwO is not something that 'precedes' differentiation, but operates alongside it: a potential (or equipotential ethics) that is always available for the making: "It [the BwO] is not the child "before" the adult, or the mother "before" the child: it is the strict contemporaneousness of the adult, of the adult and the child". Hence finally why they insist that the BwO is not something 'undifferentiated', but rather, that in which "things and organs are distinguished solely by gradients, migrations, zones of proximity." (ATP164)
  • The Latest From Open Topics Forum

    • In my experience, 1 pair of gloves is fine (14oz in my case, so I can spar safely), just air them out between training (bag gloves definitely not necessary). Shinguards are a good idea, though gyms will always have them and lend them out- just more hygienic to have your own.  2 pairs of wraps, 2 shorts (I like the lightweight Raja ones for the heat), 1 pair of good road running trainers. Good gumshield and groin-protector, naturally. Every time I finish training, I bring everything into the shower (not gloves or shinnies, obviously) with me to clean off the (bucketsfull in my case) of sweat, but things dry off quickly here outside of the monsoon season.  One thing I have found I like is smallish, cotton briefs for training (less cloth, therefore sweaty wetness than boxers, etc.- bring underwear from home- decent, cotton stuff is strangely expensive here). Don't weigh yourself down too much. You might want to buy shorts or vests from the gym(s) as (useful) souvenirs. I recommend Action Zone and Keelapan, next door, in Bangkok (good selection and prices):  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Action+Zone/@13.7474264,100.5206774,17z/data=!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x30e29931ee397e41:0x4c8f06926c37408b!2sAction+Zone!8m2!3d13.7474212!4d100.5232523!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3_f5d2!3m5!1s0x30e29931ee397e41:0x4c8f06926c37408b!8m2!3d13.7474212!4d100.5232523!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3_f5d2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAyOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
    • Hey! I totally get what you mean about pushing through—it can sometimes backfire, especially with mood swings and fatigue. Regarding repeated head blows and depression, there’s research showing a link, especially with conditions like CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). More athletes are recognizing the importance of mental health alongside training. 
    • If you need a chill video editing app for Windows, check out Movavi Video Editor. It's super easy to use, perfect for beginners. You can cut, merge, and add effects without feeling lost. They’ve got loads of tutorials to help you out! I found some dope tips on clipping videos with Movavi. It lets you quickly cut parts of your video, so you can make your edits just how you want. Hit up their site to learn more about how to clip your screen on Windows and see how it all works.
    • Hi all, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be traveling to Thailand soon for just over a month of traveling and training. I am a complete beginner and do not own any training gear. One of the first stops on my trip will be to explore Bangkok and purchase equipment. What should be on my list? Clearly, gloves, wraps, shorts and mouthguard are required. I would be grateful for some more insight e.g. should I buy bag gloves and sparring gloves, whether shin pads are worthwhile for a beginner, etc. I'm partiularly conscious of the heat and humidity, it would make sense to pack two pairs of running shoes, two sets of gloves, several handwraps and lots of shorts. Any nuggets of wisdom are most welcome. Thanks in advance for your contributions!   
    • Have you looked at venum elite 
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      1.4k
    • Total Posts
      11.2k
×
×
  • Create New...