Polynesian vs Samoan Pe'a
Samoan Pe'a is a regional variant of Polynesian — the Samoan male body tattoo within the Polynesian tradition.
Polynesian
A broad Pacific tattooing tradition of solid black geometric bands built from repeated motifs encoding genealogy, status, and protection.
- Solid flat-black geometric bands
- Repeated enata (figure) and spearhead motifs
- Niho mano (shark-teeth) triangle rows
- Tiki faces and ocean-wave fillers
- Bands wrapping and following body contours
Samoan Pe'a
The traditional Samoan male tatau covering waist to knee in dense black geometric bands, hand-tapped with comb tools over many sessions.
- Solid black fields covering waist to knee
- Hand-tapped comb (au) and mallet technique
- Fine repeated geometric band motifs
- Arrow, canoe (va'a), and chevron elements
- Fixed lower-torso-to-thigh placement
At a glance
| Polynesian | Samoan Pe'a | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient–present | Ancient–present |
| Discipline | Tattoo | Tattoo |
| Region | Polynesia, Samoa, Tahiti, Marquesas, Hawaii | Samoa |
| Family | Austronesian, Tribal | Austronesian, Indigenous |
| Formal traits | solid-black, geometric-bands, repeated-motifs, symmetrical, contour-following | solid-black, dense-geometry, banded, hand-tapped, repeated-motifs |
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