Shway Yoe — Hand Poke The Scottish administrator who wrote the fullest English description of Burmese tattooing, under a Burmese pen name, in 1882. nanobotco.github.io/hand-poke/person/shway-yoe/ · 19-Sep-2026 · 52K
Htoe kwin — Hand Poke Every up-country Burmese man wore one: a sheet of dark-blue animals from the navel to below the knee, begun in boyhood. nanobotco.github.io/hand-poke/tradition/htoe-kwin/ · 19-Sep-2026 · 57K
The people — Hand Poke Practitioners, and the outsiders who wrote the tradition down — which is not the same list. nanobotco.github.io/hand-poke/people/ · 19-Sep-2026 · 52K
Shan leg tattooing — Hand Poke The same leg work as the Burmese, carried further — to the ankles, up the back, and on the specialists who tattooed everybody else's charms. nanobotco.github.io/hand-poke/tradition/shan-tattooing/ · 19-Sep-2026 · 55K
Cats and monkeys — Hand Poke The two commonest figures on a Burmese thigh, named in the same breath as tigers and elephants. nanobotco.github.io/hand-poke/motif/cat-monkey/ · 19-Sep-2026 · 50K
The leg-tattoo zone — Hand Poke One custom, four peoples, and a boundary that runs through the middle of modern Thailand rather than along its edge. nanobotco.github.io/hand-poke/story/legs/ · 19-Sep-2026 · 54K
The sample book — Hand Poke A book of drawings a Burmese tattooist carried, so the boy could pick his figures and their positions before the work started. nanobotco.github.io/hand-poke/art/sample-book/ · 19-Sep-2026 · 51K
Saya Chein — Hand Poke A Burmese tattooist named in passing in 1882 — the only working *saya* of the period this site can put a name to. nanobotco.github.io/hand-poke/person/saya-chein/ · 19-Sep-2026 · 51K