Old Taiwanese Aboriginal Sword
 

One of the things I truly enjoy about this forum is the opportunity to learn about swords from areas that might be outside my personal collecting interest. I have seen many threads about Taiwanese aboriginal swords and how rare they are. In my 20+ years of collecting, I had only personally seen and handled one example prior. So it was to my surprise and delight when I ran across 3 examples. I want to learn more about these swords so am posting them in 3 separate threads to discuss their attributes.

This first example has some unique characteristics to it from what I have been able to learn through this forum. First, the carving on the handle is different than some of the ancestor faces I have seen on other examples. The carved wood is accented with thin strips of inlaid metal. There is remnants of white dye on the metal to give it a nice contrast to the wood, which has a lovely reddish brown patina. The wood has split on one side, but the handle has been wrapped tightly with wire and this looks like an old and original native repair.

The scabbard has a lovely carved snake with red and black accents. At the end, there is an interesting "leg" and there are a couple of "appendages" on the side around the middle. I don't know what the symbolism with those items are but would love to know. The reverse of the scabbard is open faced but the lower 2/3rds of the scabbard is covered with metal with a bunch of faces punched into the metal. It's a lucky thing that part is still there because most of the metal pins are gone. Just one left to hold this thing on.

The blade is slightly hollow ground on one side and slightly beveled on the opposite side. Although the blade is pretty well patinated, I can still make out some sections where the way the blade has patinated shows that this blade has an inserted edge.

So to me, this seems to have a different type of face carving in the handle and the snake on the scabbard is very detailed but with some interesting additional features. Am I correct to assume this is Paiwanese?

A few additional pictures to help add to the conversation.

I AGREE ALL 3 ARE FROM TAIWAN AND GOOD OLDER NON- TOURIST EXAMPLES. THEY MAY ALL BE VARIATIONS FROM THE SAME TRIBAL GROUP BUT ONE OF OUR MEMBERS WITH MORE INFORMATION ON THESE WILL HAVE TO COMMENT AS I HAVE VERY LITTLE KNOWLEGE OF THESE. YOU ARE VERY LUCKY TO FIND 3 GOOD ONES TOGETHER AND AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE.
PERHAPS YOU MIGHT LOOK ON THE OLD POSTS AND SEND THE MEMBERS WHO HAVE KNOWLEGE IN THIS FIELD AN EMAIL. GOOD LUCK :)

Good finds ! I have never owned one of these swords, but they look very interesting and worthy of research.

Regards.

Thanks for the feedback gentleman. Barry, I agree with you. I'll reach out and see if we can get some of the knowledgeable folks on these pieces to make comment.

It does look to be Paiwanese
though... I hate to admit it, but I still sometimes get Rukai and Paiwan blades mixed up.

I'm not sure why the snake had appendages, not sure if it was intentional for symbolic reasons or easier carving, or what. The snake is the baibushe, hundred pacer (Deinagkistrodon), ancestor of the Paiwan. Puyuma and Rukai have similar themes... they are similar cultures.

I don't see too many examples with the metal face still on it - so good for you!
Most examples I've seen use staples/bent wire to hold in the blade. You can still go to Pingdong and find old makers who make Paiwan blades and traditional sheaths... but increasingly the colors are a gaudier red, the blades are sometimes of lesser quality, the sheaths are roughly made, etc. esp for tourists...

Yes they did normally have inserted edges - usually though rough, they were of quality construction... whether aboriginal or Han settler made.

That sort of blade is traditional, a sort of chisel grind almost, but kind of concave on the "flat" side. Sort of like the dayak blades, but maybe not so pronounced. Some are sometimes literally flat with a bevel on one side, and some are so but the flat side is slanted so it actually forms an edge that is perpendicular to the spine. Today, double beveled takit are common as well.

oh, by the way, they are called takit, or tjakit... the t is kind of like Atjeh/Aceh, or Rentjong, or cojang.



Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I can comment. I only know so much, and though I'm Taiwanese - I don't live there, don't have a library of references, and don't have connections in aboriginal communities.

blade x-section and profile
 

The single-bevel "chisel" grind plus the slight concavity on the flat side does have parallels in Dayak mandau blades. (years ago I wrote an intro article on these swords jointly with the late Sherrod V. Anderson MD who had researched them extensively, and he noted that there are strong linguistic and mythological similarities between tribal groups on Taiwan, Luzon, Borneo, and the mountainous parts of mainland SE Asia). Also interesting that the blade's contours resemble that of the typical Tibetan or Bhutanese backsword (or the archaic and early medieval zhibeidao/chokuto blades of China, Korea, and Japan). The inserted edge plate of high-carbon steel is a construction found throughout East Asia.

Hi Rick,

Well, I do not know about the two other swords you found as I don't see them in your post.

But concerning the one shown here, I congratulate you for owning your first authentic and old Paiwan sword/knife :) And be careful, because if the 2 other ones are as good as this one, you may be tempted starting a new collection... what could be very costly and frustrating for you in the sense that there are so few of these knives and they are not cheap.

What you have here is a perfect sample of a traditional Paiwan sword. I could say there are 3 types of them: the working one, the formal one and the ceremonial one. All of the men of the tribe had two or three.

This one is not a working one... nor a chief one. But it is very nice!

The classical handle in the shape of an ancestor, the good traditional blade hollowed on one side and chiseled on the other, the usual snake body and head (the tip of the scabbard!), open scabbard on one side stitched or covered with a copper plate enriched with tribal motives, mostly heads.

These heads can be interpreted as heads symbolizing protecting ancestors or heads brought back from a head hunting party - but the result is the same as once the enemy head was brought back home, the enemy was not an enemy anymore as he was becoming a protecting spirit and his soul/force was appropriated by the one that brought it back.

Please, show us the other knives! i would be happy to see 2 other good old knives.

And as Philip said (by the way, all my best greetings to you, Philip), it's worthwhile to go back to this excellent article he co-wrote with Mr Anderson. One of the only existing paper dedicated only to this subject!

I would only add it has been since proven scientifically that - further the strong linguistic and mythological similarities between tribal groups on Taiwan, Luzon, Borneo, and the mountainous parts of mainland SE Asia Philip mentioned - the Taiwan aborigines are at the origin, are the craddle of the Austronesian culture that covers most of the Pacific rim. Close to 500 millions people are speaking today Austronesian languages (Malay, Indonesian, Polynesian languages...) that are all belonging to the Formosan language family that originated in Taiwan. What the linguists have proven has also been established by DNA analysis now: most of the population of this huge area are linked ethnically (are descending from) to the ancestors of the Taiwanese aborigines.

Congratulations, Rick! :)