Maori Tattoo Designs and Meanings: Ta Moko, Kirituhi and the Koru

Traditional moko was cut into the skin with uhi - small bone chisels - and pigment was tapped into the grooves, leaving a textured line rather than a smooth one. Men's facial moko (mataora) and women's moko on the lips and chin (moko kauae) are the best known. After decades of decline, moko has seen a strong revival, and many Maori today wear it with pride - some carved traditionally, most with machines.

Because a moko is a record of one person's ancestry, copying someone's moko is copying their identity. That is why outsiders are asked never to wear facial moko, and why a respectful Maori-style tattoo for a non-Maori is designed fresh, as kirituhi, around their own story.

• Koru: the unfurling silver fern frond - new life, growth and peace. The spiral that runs through most Maori design.
• Manaia: a guardian figure with a bird's head and a human body, a protector between worlds.
• Hei matau: the fish hook, for prosperity, strength and safe passage over water.
• Pikorua: a twisting loop, for paths that separate and meet again - friendship and loyalty.
• Unaunahi: fish-scale patterns, for abundance and health.
• Kirikiri and other fill patterns: dots and lines that carry meaning in a full moko, chosen by the tohunga ta moko (moko expert), not by the wearer.