A Shan man being Tattooed, 1890 (sepia photo)

The Shan people live in an area incorporating parts of Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, China and Laos and it has been suggested that their tattoos incorporate both Buddhist and animist elements of the their cosmological world-view; Types of tattoo still commonly worn by both Shan men and women are those with a 'medical' purpose, which act variously like vaccinations or armour. For this reason the tattooist is usually a monk or a doctor and they use tools appropriate for the purpose, traditionally crafted out of brass and often topped with a Buddhist deity; Shan tattooing based on Burmese script is one of the two main historical tattooing traditions in mainland Southeast Asia, the other originating in Cambodia. Initiates were often given opium to smoke to lessen the pain;