Khmer and Cambodian Tattoo Designs: Ideas From Our Studio
In short
Traditional Khmer and Cambodian tattoo designs are sak yant: Khmer script drawn into a sacred design, often around an animal such as a tiger or a naga, or a figure such as Hanuman. We show 48 of our own pieces on real skin, named where they have a name, with ideas for men, women and small pieces.
Use these for ideas, then choose the real design with us: in the Khmer tradition a design is not picked from a picture alone. To see the same work sorted by body part, go to our work, by placement; to read what the designs stand for, see Cambodian tattoo meanings.
The designs we tattoo
Each design below has its number, its name and photographs of real work, and, where we have them, its name in Khmer, what it is believed to give and where it usually goes on the body.
Design
#04 ReachSey
រាជសីហ៍The Lion King in the Khmer legend story.
Design
#06 Yant Preah Bram PreahAng
The Five Buddha Yantra; also called Yant Theat Teang Bram (Five Elements Yantra) and Yant khlok (Gourd Yantra).
Design
#07 Turtle
អណ្តើកOriginally from Cambodia.
Design
#08 Sarika birds
យ័ន្ត្រ សារិកាលិន្ថោង
Design
#09 ReaHu Yantra
យ័ន្ត្ររាហ៊ូA fierce guardian capable of swallowing up bad luck.
Design
#11 Three lines Mantras
Popular at our ashram because it holds a complete and comprehensive meaning for each individual.
What do Khmer tattoo designs look like?
A Khmer sak yant is built from writing: Pali and Sanskrit words in Khmer characters, drawn into rows, rings and shapes. Describing the work of a Khmer tattoo master in 2008, The Cambodia Daily wrote that the characters are "sometimes drawn in a stylized manner", into shapes "that one would scarcely recognize as letters" (The Cambodia Daily, July 2008). Many designs add a figure inside the script. Cambodian magic tattoos "normally feature pictures of animals such as tigers, along with scripts written in Pali", the Phnom Penh Post reported in 2011 (The Phnom Penh Post, June 2011). Tap a photo to see it larger.
- All
- Sak yant of Khmer script
- Tiger, naga and other animal designs
- Hanuman and other figures
- Small Khmer tattoo ideas
Sak yant of Khmer script
Khmer script drawn into the design itself: the Nine Buddha Yantra across the upper back, the 8 Direction Yantra (Yant Bram Bai Tis), the Three lines Mantras, Yant Preah Bram PreahAng and the necklace sak yant. It is the look most people picture when they think of a Khmer tattoo.
Tiger, naga and other animal designs
The tiger, ខ្លា (khla), the naga, នាគ (neak), the ReachSey, the lion king of Khmer legend, the turtle and the Sarika birds, each framed by Khmer script. Read what the animals stand for.
Hanuman and other figures
Hanuman, the hero of the Reamker; Rahu, the guardian who swallows bad luck, in the ReaHu Yantra; Ganesha in the Ganesha God Yantra; Athan, a crowned figure holding swords; the many-armed seated figure of យ័ន្ត្រ មុនីឥសី; and a seated figure covering its face.
Small Khmer tattoo ideas
Smaller sak yant for the fingers, the hand and the arm: Makot Pich, the Diamond Crown, on the fingers, matching yantras on the backs of both hands, and the Sarika birds. A small, hand-sized design can be completed in a single visit.
Khmer tattoo designs for guys
For most of its history in Cambodia, sak yant was a man's tattoo, asked for by soldiers and fighters who wanted protection. In 2009 the Phnom Penh Post found that "Cambodian fighters are often adorned with intimidating images of a dragon, tiger or the monkey king Hanuman" (The Phnom Penh Post, 2009). In the past the Hanuman sak yant was a popular tattoo, worn mostly by warriors, soldiers, commanders and fighters.
So the classic ideas for men are the fighters' designs: the Hanuman sak yant, the tiger sak yant, and a full back of Khmer script. Where it goes mattered too. A former commander told The Cambodia Daily in 2008 that the tattoos on his forearms were "great gravity" magic, to make his fists heavier, and the ones across his chest and shoulders were for protection in general (The Cambodia Daily, July 2008).
A sak yant can also be worn like a necklace across the chest, in the style of a warrior.
Sak yant designs for women
Women can receive any of these designs: sak yant make no distinction between men and women. Fewer Cambodian women wore them in the past because more men went to war. Among our pieces on women are a small yant of Khmer script at the nape of the neck and a tiger on the upper back. Read sak yant for women for placement and the questions to ask.
How is a design chosen?
With us, at the consultation, not from a picture online. Some designs belong in a fixed place on the body, and designs copied from the internet are often wrong or placed wrongly: read where each design may go.
Please do not bring a design from the internet. Come with an idea of what you want, what you like and the meaning you need, and we will talk it through together at the studio.
We do not invent new designs: every one we tattoo comes from the elder masters' books, with clear documents and clear sources. Large pieces start with a consultation to discuss the details. Read what happens at a session, step by step, and see how pricing works and how to book.
Where do the designs come from?
From the books and memory of the masters. The Khmer yant draws on four traditions:
- Buddhism (Mahayana and Hinayana)
- Brahmanism or Hinduism (myth, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata)
- the religion of the soul
- Khmer legends and literature
The designs pass from master to student. The Khmer tattoo master who spoke to The Cambodia Daily in 2008 had learned his by memorising a book of designs made by his father, and hoped to redraw it from memory so it would not be lost (The Cambodia Daily, July 2008). Chantha learned his designs the same way, from his own teachers.
Some of our source drawings are old themselves: we keep yantra that have been around for about forty years, and redraw them so they are a little nicer to show, share and tattoo. Meet Chantha and the masters who taught him, read the history of Khmer tattooing, or watch the studio's video Khmer ancient SakYant designs.
