“Both the Han Chinese and aborigines have lived and continue to live on this island. We hope to provide our guests with a chance to learn more about the aboriginal cultures of Taiwan,” said an earnest Lin Wei-cheng, supervisor of the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines, which has been in service since 1994.
In contrast to the National Palace Museum, which showcases thousands of years of Chinese history, Shung Ye tells a different story, of the aborigines in Taiwan. By working closely with museums and research institutions in Japan, it has been able to study and present some very rare anthropological findings related to Taiwan’s indigenous peoples.
To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Shung Ye is holding an exhibition entitled Century-long Gazes. The exhibition, which began June 9 and runs until Oct. 11, is a collaborative effort between Shung Ye and the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan. The items under display span a time frame of 50 years, from more than a century ago, when Taiwan was ceded to Japan by the Qing Dynasty in 1895, until 1945, when control of the island was returned by the Japanese to the Republican Chinese government.
In an attempt to fully understand its colony, the Japanese colonial government systematically conducted anthropological researches by collecting aboriginal artifacts, many of which were sent back to Japan to be studied by scholars there. Thus many of the items being shown for the exhibition are on loan from Japan. In particular, the University of Tokyo, the Attic Museum, which is a private museum founded by a late Japanese minister of finance, and Segawa Kokichi, a former agriculture and forestry official, generously lent out their collections. The exhibition, with its 193 artifacts, also owes much to the efforts of three prominent anthropologists of the time: Tadao Kano, Torii Ryuzo and Mabuchi Toichi.
A long, wooden drinking cup quietly shines under a bright light in a glass cabinet at the entrance to the museum. A symbol of friendship, it was used during traditional banquets, when hosts and guests used to celebrate the occasion by drinking millet wine together. Now, as a welcoming symbol, it invites curious visitors in.
Pieces of traditional Pinpu clothes form the first group of exhibits. Conspicuous by their carefully knitted red geometric patterns, the beige sleeveless shirts were found in present-day Nantou County and kept by Segawa. As the plain-dwelling Pinpu were among the tribes most influenced by the Han Chinese, the collections are especially precious, for clothes like these are now hard to find.
In addition to geometric patterns, head-hunting motifs were also commonly portrayed on aboriginal knitwear. An eye-catching short skirt for males, found in a Paiwan tribe in Pingtung County, is one of many much studied embroidery pieces. On this dark blue skirt adorned with four comic-strip-like squares, two little figures, one white and the other red, hold hands as if dancing together. But as one’s attention moves from one square to the next, one is surprised to find the red figure’s head chopped off in the last two scenes.
A necklace and a divination ring also indicate how widespread head-hunting was among the early aborigines: the necklace is made of a string of human teeth, presumably pulled out from the mouths of enemies, and the ring, decorated with pitch-black hair, reflects how aborigines believed that spiritual power emanated from the body parts of their deceased opponents.
Taken together, the three items suggest that a bloody theme in the eyes of the outsiders was in fact a deeply ingrained element in the lives of Taiwan’s aborigines. From the material realm researchers are able to infer what the spiritual realm was like for the aborigines, and by delving into the spiritual realm it is possible to better understand the culture of aboriginal Taiwanese.
Not all the objects collected were fully understood by the Japanese anthropologists who studied them. For example, all that we know about a certain sculpted wooden bird is that it was used for religious purposes; its exact function, however, still eludes the grasp of scholars, despite the passage of so many years.
Therefore, said the museum supervisor, a major purpose of the exhibition is to ask aborigines to help clarify some of the obscurities. The exhibit is free to Taiwan aborigines. Young or old, they can all savor their own cultures through the well-preserved collection. But the two organizing museums also look forward to receiving feedback from the aborigines, such as how the bird might have been used in their tribes.
On Feb. 3, 1955, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan designated as “important cultural proprieties” three rattan carrier baskets that were found in Pingtung and Miaoli, and belonging respectively to the Rukai, Atayal, and Saisiyat tribes. As important marks in the history of human civilization, not only did these baskets carry wood and food in a bygone era, they also carry traces of the past into the present.
Another must-see item, said Lin Chih-hsing, the head of the Research and Collection Division at the National Museum of Prehistory, is the cleverly designed hunting gun “Gutang” displayed next to the rattan baskets. “All the ingenuity of the early aborigines is contained in this single contraption,” he said. The hunting gun, made of wood and linen ropes, is still widely used in various tribes in Taiwan. Animals struck by such a weapon might be able to run for a while, but they are never able to get very far. When the spear reaches its target, a little stick springs forth, causing the wounded animal to become entangled in the forest thickets, so that further motion is impossible.
Not only did the aborigines hunt animals to live on, they also hunted out elements of foreign cultures for pleasure, such as smoking. Tobacco crops are believed to have arrived in Taiwan either from the Philippines, or China, or along with the Dutch explorers in the 17th century. When they saw foreigners smoking, the aborigines were at first amazed at how people could “spit out fire and smoke.” But some of the aborigines, such as the Ami and Sedeq tribes, quickly picked up the dubious habit themselves, having learnt how to grow and harvest tobacco. The Paiwan and Bunnon people even carved out wooden pipes in the shapes of little human figures, fish or goats, adding fun to these commonly used items.
Asked if the Japanese institutions will return any of the artifacts to the tribes, the supervisor said, “the Japanese institutions are open about leaving the items in Taiwan, but only on condition that the tribes have a proper space to keep these fragile items.”
For the moment, the best place to appreciate and preserve these relics, then, may be in museums. “A museum is where all can observe, discuss, and contribute,” noted the supervisor. Before the exhibition is over, come take a look at the artifacts at Shung Ye. You may just find some cultural inspirations gazing back at you.
Write to Tien-ying Hsu at tyhsu@mail.gio.gov.tw