Top 63 Praying Hands Tattoo Ideas [2020 Inspiration Guide]

While it’s true the praying hands design holds significant meaning in most religious groups today, you might be surprised to know it actually means thank you in Japanese culture.

The iconic design has even been depicted by the German print-maker, Albrecht Durer in c. 1508. If you were to visit the Albertina museum in Vienna Austria, you could still see it today.

Now, while this style may be highly popular alongside things like Bible quotes, angels, crosses, or rosary beads, there’s more to it than just a purely religious meaning for some gentlemen.

The truth is, when two hands come together it is a symbol of a quiet physical body. In other words, by putting your hands together you are silencing your mind, hands, and physical body all at once for absolute peace and reflection.

For other men, it’s simply a way to honor and remember a lost family member, friend or relative. It can serve as a small reminder to hang onto hope and raise ourselves up during dark times of sorrow too.

Regardless of how you interrupt the meaning, surely you’ll enjoy these 70 praying hands tattoos for men. In this collection I’ve included everything from small, simple pieces of art to colossal body ink for plenty of masculine inspiration and ideas.

Praying Hands Tattoo Ideas

This realistic praying hands tattoo is an amazing art work in it’s own right that doubles as premier cover up for an old, ineffective tribal piece. The lines and wrinkles etched into the aged hands complement the stylish rosary and cleanly defined pocket watch. The use of black fuzz and solar system are effective fill effects allowing the new image to take on a stronger size and shape while completely eradicating any trace of the old ink.  

A cool praying hands piece in black and gray. It uses darker shade work, but the outlines are thicker and more pronounced to mesh well with this effect. The artist’s use of negative space within the old school cross works well in opposition to the dark focal point. 

Praying hands are often employed to symbolize the subject’s relationship with god and family. This traditional tattoo uses a variety of elements in this depiction of faith. The cursive script flows well and is easy to read inside the backing scroll below the delicately aged hands. Deploying a dove is an excellent style choice as it contrasts the black shading and overall darkness of the art work.

This is a beautiful praying hands tattoo in the sketch artwork style. The shading is simple, but effectively works lighter gray scale and wrinkles of negative space. Clean, sharp black outline adds clarity to the image, while white ink highlights in the pendent and chain add strength to the cord and Christ’s countenance.

These praying hands form part of a Christian faith upper arm sleeve. The art opts for non traditional, rougher gray scale shading in forming excellent texture, while negative space flows into the piece from below the hands. It’s hard to tell from the image but the tattoo seems to extend into a full black and gray sleeve.

A nicely delivered back shoulder tattoo. As with the previous pieces on this list the work inks texture and detail into the hands with great skill. The roses are also nicely done here. One thing that could add depth and balance to the piece would be additional darker shading – there’s alternating sun rays behind the main image but they’re a little washy, and could do with building up.

Strong shading can make a great difference to the style and texture of your praying hands tattoo. The fantastic alternating stripes in the background here give the art a unique and interesting texture that plays well in opposition to the main image. Love the rosary beads too – the artist has fashioned a fresh pearl effect by finely balancing black ink and negative space.

The emphasis on fine black line needle accentuated by small white ink hatches and negative space alt fill give these praying hands excellent clarity. Even the shadow on the image outskirts seems crisp and fresh. The rosary looks brilliant with strong lines and a cleverly etched wooden cross effect.

The shade effects in this inner arm tattoo are well deployed, creating a natural barrier against other artwork while giving shape to the praying hands. The stylized rosary with the solid black Celtic Cross replacing the traditional Jesus at the bottom of the image also works well as a unique technical aspect.

Meshing black fuzz and negative space are excellent technical bits of tattooing. The artist has produced solid praying hands, and looks to be finishing the work with a white highlighted outline to give it a vigorous pop from the skin.

The fingers in this praying hands tattoo are thick, lined, and worn – they’re quite realistic and look good complemented by the rosary looped over. It’s a very dark tattoo stacked closely together. The piece could have been more vivid if the accompanying fill was a bit darker or used more variety in the shadow, as overall it tends to blend together into a mass of dark color.

This is a unique tattoo that almost gives the impression of two separate pieces. The upper part of the left chest offers traditional black and gray praying hands enveloped by roses. The rosary starts within this ink, however the beads drop down along unused skin to then depict an ornate cross surrounded by different shading styles of light and negative space.

Another well worked set of praying hands accompanying by the dove. Traditionally, a dove symbolizes God’s will, peace, and love, so are often important images linking works of faith such as praying hands, crosses, the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

A new wave take on the Virgin Mary with hands clasped in prayer. This work cleverly combines sketch style tattooing into the theme of faith. The Virgin’s facial features are a highlight of this art – they’re realistic and expertly crafted in black and gray.