During Labour Weekend (26 – 28 October 2002) in Tauranga, a celebration called the Tauranga Moana, Tauranga Tangata Festival was held. The festival represented the artists, kapa haka, lectures, sports, and personalities of Tauranga Moana. It was during this festival that a ta moko survey was conducted, with the support of the lead ta moko artist there, with the aim to canvass opinions and attitudes towards ta moko. The basis of the survey was to broadly examine the extent to which ta moko has become a form of inscribed identity for Māori. This is a first stage in a wider research project to examine Māori attitudes towards ta moko, but it happens that this initial step was taken in the author’s own rohe.