Weapons case

[Tao4mind]

Purchased this wood travel case full of carved weapons; spear, hatchet, knives, bow and arrows, sword. They all have the same carvings and areas within the wood travel case carved to fit the weapons. They seem to be made for a small man or teenage boy for hunting. Does anyone recognize the carvings or purpose of these travel cases?

[Lee]

I am suspecting these are from the Igorot (mountain peoples of Luzon, Philippines). Compare the figure with this one:



But, perhaps not as I do not see a classic 'head axe' in the box. But I expect someone will recognize them.

[Rick]

Aside from the sword cane this appears to be a complete kit of Paiwanese souvenir weapons .

Just a guess mind you .

[Battara]

I'm with Rick on the attribution. Although the carvings look similar to Igorot forms, the scabbard styles are more Paiwanese (or is it Taiwanese).

[VANDOO]

YES ITS ALL FROM TAIWAN (FORMERLY FORMOSA) I HAVE SEEN ALL OF THESE FORMS BEFORE AND THEY ARE INDEED MADE FOR SOUVINEERS BUT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE SEEN A FULL SET CASE AND ALL. VERY UNUSUAL

[Tao4mind]

Thank you all; they seem pretty sharp edge for souvenirs. The sword walking stick has the same carvings as the rest of the items. Thought it was some hunting kit for teens. Arrows and spear are real sharp and could take down a smaller animal, both knives and hatchet look to have been used to cut meat. But this walking stick is a clandestine weapon to kill humans. Did the Formosa hunt humans?

[KuKulzA28]

WOW! I have never seen such a big collection of 1900s Paiwanese souvenir weapons! The Paiwan are an aboriginal group at the southern tip of Taiwan island (formerly known as Formosa)...

While these are old souvenir items, and not the "real deal" it may be worth keeping because, personally, I have never seen such a complete set! While these may not be headhunting and survival worthy, and were probably looked on as a necessary commercial venture by some Paiwan, they do represent an important, more recent part of Paiwan (and Taiwanese) history.

Just my opinion of course... very few people today have any knowledge of Taiwanese traditional weapons and even fewer actually have antique or recently made examples. While they're souvenirs, made for tourists, I think you should still consider yourself lucky to have this "weapons" case.




I once owned a souvenir knife like the curved one in that box, and it was pretty sharp and probably pretty use-able. As for the utility of the items in YOUR set, they may vary from low quality, to pretty decent - but I don't think they generally had as much skill put into them as "real" Paiwan weapons.

As for your question, did they hunt humans... well Taiwan (and much of SE Asia) was known for headhunters... but they did not use sword-canes, and did not know of such things until Chinese traders/settlers/warriors arrived. Taiwanese aborigines, like most Austronesian headhunters, used axes and machete-like blades for their headhunting... hidden and secret weapons like sword-canes seem to be more common in societies where ruler's or social norms forbade openly carrying weapons by normal folks - those are also usually more stratified societies.

[fearn]

I'd also suggest that the case may have been made originally for the bow and arrows, and the other bits were added to it because they fit, and it made it easier to carry the whole kit.

Neat stuff, and I think Kukulz has it right.

Best,

F

[yuanzhumin]

Hello all,

Tao4mind contacted me on my private mail few weeks ago to ask me what these weapons were. Here is what i told him: this is a set of fantasy/souvenirs weapons 'made in Taiwan' for American troops stationed on the island during the 50s and the 60s.

It's inspired by very crude Paiwan (local aborigines) and may be Igorot motives, made in the shape of an Atayal (another island tribe) knife for one of the knife, the shape of an american hunting knife for the other knife, the shape of an american indian tomahawk for the axe, a Western inspired sword-walking stick... I love the concept of the two parts spear you can put together: must have been very practical for the 'Paiwan' hunters !

This case is a perfect example of tribal fusion style and globalisation before the real globalisation.

There is no axes among the Taiwanese tribes, but anyway the artcraftmen (most of them were not even Paiwanese but simply Han Taiwanese trying to earn a couple of hard currency dollars) didn't care. They were making these weapons just to please the imaginary of young American soldiers that had dreamed in their youth of the cowboys and indians stories (see the tomahwak) and were stationed on an island, Taiwan, where there were still at that time some living headhunters (the last heads taken by Taiwanese Aborigines were that of Second world war allied soldiers or people/tribes allied to them in the jungles of Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia...!). On this, see my post (that didn't attract much comments!):
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=atayal

You can see a similar knife to the ones displayed here by Tao4u on the page I wrote on my website dedicated the 'artyfakes' in Taiwan aborigines material cultural items.
http://www.formosatribal.com/fromart.html

You still can find these low quality fakes coming out sometimes on Ebay or even on the Taiwanese 'antiques' market. Sure, they are becoming scarce and collectible in their way :-) But I would advise anybody to collect something more authentic! Anyway, it's true that's it is the first time I see a whole set like this, with the travelling case! A rare opportunity!

Best

Nicolas

[Tao4mind]

I have found you can take an item to ten antique specialists and get ten different responses. This antique dealer in NY claims his set is a RARE COLLECTION OF HAND CARVED AFRICAN HUNTING WEAPONS on eBay. <active auction> and even though it is lacking the bronze hardware, they are a similar hunting kit. Mine had a bowie style knife and a locking Japanese blade walking cane, which were added to the collection I guess. Got mine at a local military family estate sale with this mixed metal platter from the middle east.