Mythologies of the Makatao (Takau) Tribe

The Makatao Tribe (Chinese: 馬卡道族), also written Makatau or Makattau, are an indigenous people in Taiwan. The Makatao originally settled around lowland Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan, later largely migrating to Pingtung and even further to Taitung in the early 19th century due to the influx of Chinese immigrants. The indigenous people allegedly historically called themselves Tau or Makatao according to Japanese anthropologist, Inō Kanori, around the early 20th century, but other researchers considered them to be part of the Siraya or their language as part of Sirayaic from Tainan to Kaohsiung to Pingtung County. Presently, the Makatao people living across the lowland plains of Pingtung County do not know or no longer know anymore the original meaning of this name, "Makatao", and no one recalls any ancestor calling themselves "Makatao", but nevertheless this formal respectful collective name for the community is accepted within the community, but normally, Makatao villagers of the Pingtung plain refer to themselves in Taiwanese Hokkien Chinese: 山脚人; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: soaⁿ-kha-lâng; lit. 'people living at the foot of the mountain' or in Taiwanese Mandarin Chinese: 平埔族; pinyin: Píngpǔzú; lit. 'plains tribe'. In November 2024, a representative of the Makatao people submitted a formal request to the Council of Indigenous Peoples for official recognition.

Long before Chinese settlers came to the flat, sprawling lands of the Pingtung Plain — the southern Taiwanese county now known for its pineapple and mango production — the area was inhabited by Pingpu (plains indigenous) tribes like the Makatao. Waves of colonization pushed indigenous tribes from their ancestral lands and closer to the mountains, or in some cases, to the other side of the island. It was originally with the goal of land rectification that Pan Enbo, a member of the Laopi Makatao tribe in today’s Pingtung and then chairman of the Laopi Makatao Cultural Association, began digging through national and local archives in 2016. But something unexpected happened: He stumbled across pages and pages of records written in the native Makatao language, which had been dormant for decades. “After the association was established,” Pan said, “we started to notice that it was quite strange that outsiders couldn’t understand what we were saying. Why can Han people not understand us? Because we are different. We really have no relation to mainland China.” Pan became obsessed: He traveled to the national archives in Taipei and began collecting all available documentation until he had a total of 24 compact disks full of information. Seven years later, he produced a 70-page dictionary of all the words and phrases he was able to find and translated them into Mandarin Chinese characters and romanization. Across the island, Leyo Kana, a member of the Eastern Makatao in Hualien, spends his days traveling door to door to interview elder tribe members to identify Makatao vocabulary intermixed with their spoken Hokkien. He has also helped the community revive the long-dormant night festival, an annual Makatao ritual ringing in the new year. “Taiwanese and the Makatao language have blended together,” Kana explains. “So many of the older residents, since they identified as Fujianese, always thought they were speaking Taiwanese.” The Makatao language’s revitalization is more than just an effort to preserve an endangered language. It’s part of a long-term strategy to include the 10 Pingpu groups among the Taiwanese government’s officially recognized indigenous peoples. In addition to the Makatao, the Siraya, Taokas, and Papora peoples — all indigenous groups that fall under the Pingpu classification — have active preservation movements aimed at achieving recognition.

Gushan District, named after the mountain because of the drums. Originally, Takaoshan (Takao Hill) was the settlement of Makatao Tribe, also known as Takau (meaning bamboo) Tribe, which was a branch tribe of Pingpu Tribe. Takaoshan was also pronounced as Takaoshe or Dagushe in its transliteration. In 1923, Governor Den Kenjiro climbed up Takaoshan to celebrate the birthday of the Japanese Prince Hirohito of that time, and then renamed the hill as Shoushan up to now. During the period that Taiwan was ruled by Zheng Cheng-gong in Ming Dynasty, this district was subordinated to Wannian County. After Taiwan was occupied by the Manchurians in Qing Dynasty, the district was subordinated to Singlong Village and Dajhuciao Village, Fongshan County, Taiwan Prefecture, Fujian Province. In the early years of the Japanese colonial period, due to frequent alteration of local administrative districts, this district was successively subordinated to Fongshan Branch Office of Tainan County, Takao Branch Office of Fongshan County, and Takao Branch Office of Tainan County. Upon establishment of Kaohsiung State in 1920, this district was subordinated to Kaohsiung Street and Zuoying Village in Kaohsiung Region. In 1944, the district was subordinated to 7 District Offices of Kaohsiung City, namely Tamachi , Shou -cho, Yamashita-cho , Minato -machi , new coast -cho, cho boat whistle and Neiwei. After World War II, these 7 District Offices were merged as the 9th District of Kaohsiung City, which was later on renamed as Gushan District. During the Japanese colonial period, Gushan area had two coastal railways with access to commercial port, fishing port and fish market. This kind of railway with access to fishing port was called Hamasen in Japanese. At that time local citizens pronounced this word as “Hamasing” in Fujianese. Owing to establishment of Kaohsiung Harbor and the old Kaohsiung Railway Station, Hamasen became the main hub of water and land transportation of that time, as well as the political, economic and cultural center of Kaohsiung City. Gushan District was also the pioneer district stepping to modernization. Nevertheless, as the hinterland area was too insufficient for use, and after successive migration of Kaohsiung Railway Station and fish market, the prosperity of Hamasen disappeared gradually. With an area of 14.7523 square kilometers, Gushan District is long from the north to the south, and narrow from the east to the west. Its eastern side has Bo-ai Road and Zuoying District in the north, and has Lover River and Sanmin District in the south, connecting with the coastal railway and Yancheng District by the side of Gushan 1st and 2nd Roads. It borders Takaoshan (Shoushan, Chaishan) and Taiwan Strait to the west, borders Kaohsiung Harbor and the opposite shore’s Cijin District to the south, and borders Yucheng Road, Dongmen Road, Trunk Line Railway and Zuoying District to the north.

One of the most secretive and least publicized of Taiwan’s myriad folk festivals will take place tomorrow in a rural village in Pingtung County. The Makatao, one of 10 remaining Pingpu (平埔) lowland indigenous tribes, will reenact its Tale of the Sacred Egg (仙蛋傳奇), an annual ceremony that falls on the same day as the Lantern Festival and celebrates the beginning of the new year. The festival begins at 5pm at the Temple of Immortal Maidens (仙姑廟) in the isolated farming hamlet of Jiapaolang (加匏朗, or Gabulong in Hoklo, also known as Taiwanese) and pays respect to the Celestial Grandmother Goddess (仙姑祖). It also marks the Makatao community’s ritual of rebirth as symbolized by their Tale of the Sacred Egg, from which the tribe believes their ancestors originated. The “eggs” are represented by sticky rice that is fashioned into oval shapes and then eaten in the hopes of a bountiful harvest for the coming year. It ends when the eggs are washed down with fiery fermented-rice liquor.

Gushan District was named out of Dagushan (Dagu Hill). Originally, Takaoshan (Takao Hill) was the settlement of Makatao Tribe, also known as Takau (meaning bamboo) Tribe, which was a branch tribe of Pingpu Tribe. Takaoshan was also pronounced as Takaoshe or Dagushe in its transliteration. In 1923, Governor Den Kenjiro climbed up Takaoshan to celebrate the birthday of the Japanese Prince Hirohito of that time, and then renamed the hill as Shoushan up to now. With an area of 14.7523 square kilometers, Gushan District is long from the north to the south, and narrow from the east to the west. Its eastern side has Bo-ai Road and Zuoying District in the north, and has Lover River and Sanmin District in the south, connecting with the coastal railway and Yancheng District by the side of Gushan 1st and 2nd Roads. It borders Takaoshan (Shoushan, Chaishan) and Taiwan Strait to the west, borders Kaohsiung Harbor and the opposite shore’s Cijin District to the south, and borders Yucheng Road, Dongmen Road, Trunk Line Railway and Zuoying District to the north. The inner harbor of Kaohsiung Harbor at the southern end of Gushan District has a vast space to make it become a natural good harbor, which has long been a hub of prosperity with big vessels sailing in and out frequently. Besides, the main range and sub-ranges of Shoushan have formed an absolutely good geographical environment that the district is in front of a hill and faces the sea. In addition, Gushan District was born to develop industries and fishing industry, and becomes a significant spot of international trade.

Pingtung is home to the Makatao, one of the Taiwan Plains Indigenous Peoples. An accumulation of diverse cultures and people, the Makatao has often been mistakenly classified in terms of ethnic group throughout history. The earliest record of the people appeared during the Netherlands Occupation Period. The Taiwan Plains Indigenous Peoples population in Pingtung was already the largest in Taiwan at that time: around 1650, the total population of plains indigenous peoples in Taiwan was a little under 50,000, but over 10,000 of them lived in Pingtung. It is worth noting that the Netherlands officials and missionaries were unable to handle the Pingtung wilderness and never managed to have full control over the indigenous peoples in the plains, thus were not successful in fully documenting and understanding the local indigenous languages and cultures. Initially, the Netherlands colonists mistakenly used the Siraya language spoken in Tainan to write textbooks to educate indigenous peoples in the plains of Pingtung. When they finally realized that the plains of Pingtung indigenous peoples did not understand a word at all, the Netherlands started to collect local language resources. However, they were forced out of Taiwan by Koxinga before they could actually accomplish anything.