Rare ceremonial sword "tjakit" with scabbard

wood, iron, sheet brass, paint,

The handle and the front of the scabbard are made of wood. They are carved in flat relief with four ancestor figures, all in the same characteristic pose and highlighted by a blood-red colour on a black background. The back of the scabbard is made of sheet brass decorated with twelve punched ancestor heads.

At its lower end, the scabbard ends in a snake's head, a symbol for the so-called "hundred-step snake", which is particularly revered in Taiwanese culture and is often depicted in their carvings. The snake is associated with power and strength, which is supposed to be transferred to the owner of the sword. Its name comes from the myth that a person bitten by this snake can only walk 100 steps before dying.

The original population of Taiwan had more in common culturally and anthropologically with the Ifugao in the southern Philippines until the Chinese arrived on the island in three waves of immigration from the 17th century onwards. Today, the remaining indigenous population, including the Paiwan tribe, makes up only 2.5 per cent of the total population. There is hardly anything left of their original culture.

This makes the present, very well-preserved ceremonial sword of the Paiwan particularly valuable. There are very few comparable examples left.