Exceptionaly rare knife from Formosa/Taiwan

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

Magnificent!! A pleasure to see.

Agree with Tim! And congrats to this rare find.

[KuKulzA28]

You're an expert and I a novice. You're a collector and historian, and I use machetes in the woods. I've heard of and seen pictures of these bronze knives... but I know little to nothing about them - let alone having one. You're very fortunate to have one... Hold onto it and keep good care of it, please!!!

If only the looted bronze knives were returned to Taiwan, or even to the Paiwanese people...

It's always good to see stuff from the home(is)land pop up on this forum.

[migueldiaz]

thanks for sharing! would there be mainland china blades that are similar in shape? thanks in advance

[fearn]

I suspect the tradition of ceremonial bronze knives was widespread, because they showed up in Korea as well. However, the Korean knives don't look at all like these, and as far as I can tell, their design is unique to Taiwan.

How old are they?

Absolutely wonderful to see them.

F

[Emanuel]

Very beautiful artifacts!

Somehow "phurpa" immediately came to mind when I saw these.

Not necessarily implying a connection, but it is very interesting to yet again find parallel and separate development of similar forms and treatments.

[yuanzhumin]

Thanks for your interest and your nice comments. This kind of knives are seldomly seen outside museums, even in Taiwan. Outside the island, only few of them have been collected in Japan, mostly ethnology department, and a couple of others may be found in very few places around the world. In more than ten years collecting Taiwan aboriginal stuff, I only saw 2 of these knives, and one of them is mine now and is the one displayed here. The other one was too expensive for me to buy, and it was bought by another private collector I know. In fact, these knives are very, very rare.
If I had to evaluate how rare, I would say there are only a couple of hundreds (around 200 ?) still existing, most of them in museums and ethnology dep., the other still in the hands of their original owners – Paiwan chiefs/witches lineage – or collected by private collectors.

To Nonoy : Scholars don’t know where these knives are coming from. They could have been imported as the Paiwan that used them and the other contemporary aborigines tribes didn’t know how to make iron and bronze till the 20th cent. The second hypothesis is that the bronze knives could have been made before, much earlier by the ancestors of the Paiwan but the knowledge was lost, or by another insular ethnic group that disappeared. The fact is that places were iron was made and bronze casted were found on the island, some of them dating back long long time ago. But what happened after is a mystery ? Another fact is that trade was very well developed few thousand years ago as taiwanese jade was exported all around Asia (spectrographic analysis of jade samples found all around Asia and dating few thousand years ago showed that most of the stones were coming from one place in Taiwan). In fact, this jade industry and exportation is what initiated the migration from the island to give birth to the wide austronesian spread all over south east asia and the Pacific. So it's easy to imagine the other way around, with these knives being imported into the island. Concerning the iron making, the aborigines began to make their own knives in the 1920s, taught by the Japanese that wanted to develop the local economy in the aboriginal villages (the principle is that when the aborigines are busy trading and making money they are not making war, mostly against the colonial power that were the Japanese at that time)

To Kukulza : I think that most of these knives are still in Taiwan, and the ones that left the Paiwan families were sold by the Paiwan themselves --- not looted. Everything coming from the aborigines that you can find today outside the aboriginal villages was given away by the aborigines themselves or stolen by them from their own people to be sold to the outsiders. It’s only recently that some kind of tribal pride has appeared accompanied by a cultural revival and a rediscovery of the traditions. Unfortunately, most of the traditions and heritage have been lost and what is recovered looks often more like a folkloric/touristic thing. In some case, when mixed with politics, it can become some kind of extreme militantism, with a more romantic/utopic than realistic dimension.

To migueldiaz : I don’t know if there is something close in China today, but the fact is that the kind of design on these ceremonial knives are very close to the Dongson civilization of South China and Indochina, and also the Shang and Chou period in antique China.

To fearn : How old are they ? We don’t know, but they are old, very old. It’s very possible that the iron blades have been changed and readjusted to the bronze handle because of the corrosion due to the age.

[KuKulzA28]

Originally Posted by yuanzhumin

To Kukulza : I think that most of these knives are still in Taiwan, and the ones that left the Paiwan families were sold by the Paiwan themselves --- not looted. Everything coming from the aborigines that you can find today outside the aboriginal villages was given away by the aborigines themselves or stolen by them from their own people to be sold to the outsiders. It’s only recently that some kind of tribal pride has appeared accompanied by a cultural revival and a rediscovery of the traditions. Unfortunately, most of the traditions and heritage have been lost and what is recovered looks often more like a folkloric/touristic thing. In some case, when mixed with politics, it can become some kind of extreme militantism, with a more romantic/utopic than realistic dimension.

I see. I'm surprised more weren't looted, after all the Japanese were very brutal in their conquests/rapes of their colonies. Though, on Taiwan, they did seek to assimilate it into a Japanese island. However the Paiwan selling their old possessions is also something I can see... it is too bad, but it is also a sign of a changing culture, one that is adapting or giving way to the "dominant" one. I don't blame Taiwanese for militancy ...in a way I only wish more Taiwanese sought to assert their identity and independence... with a unique blend of cultures, histories, and destinies. But, in general, the Taiwanese are not culturally fighters anymore, and there are very few militant people today. Nevertheless I am glad for what traditions persist, especially amongst the Yuan Zhu Min because they have been oppressed the most.

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by yuanzhumin

To migueldiaz : I don’t know if there is something close in China today, but the fact is that the kind of design on these ceremonial knives are very close to the Dongson civilization of South China and Indochina, and also the Shang and Chou period in antique China.

Thanks for the comments. The Dongson culture is indeed another lead yet to be mined. The Dongson drums' design for instance (a sample is below) looks uncannily like the Moro shields' motif ...

Thanks again for the comments.