Marc Pinto's Primitive Tattoo Blog

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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

"Aso" - the Mystical Dragon Dog Designs of the Dayak Tribes of Borneo.

Aso which means Dog in English is a common Borneo tattoo and carving motif.

It is a mystical dragon dog heavily featured in Kayan tattooing and seen in carvings around Borneo.
It features dogs with fangs and tendril like feet. some take the shape of a dog and other with longer body like that of a dragon.

Dog also are an important within the community for hunting.
These dogs are strays with undefinable breed that is being adopted in the villages in the  Kenya Tribe for example. They can freely enter the houses and no one is ever allowed to kill them and they do not belong to anyone, they freely roam the villages and often flog and jump into leaving boats in packs when going for pig hunts.




If you look at the images below closely, you will find several symbolic element like the hook, the eye, the claws and the legs.

Here is a post form the Quai Brandly museum.
Image below from Dayak Impressions for tattoo found in Wordpress



I will post more images of "aso" as it's a subject and motif that is important in Dayak Culture.

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