The Puyuma
　　In his memoirs of Taiwan published in 1733, the imperial censor Huang Shu-ching mentions the Puyuma as being almost entirely restricted to the Taitung plain, that is to say to the modern Peinan district in Taitung county. A Ch’ing dynasty geography of Taiwan also records the names of eight Puyuma villages, namely:Puyuma(modern Nan-wang village), Katatipul (modern Chih-pen) Rikavong(modern Li-chia village),Ka-savakan﹙modern Chien-ho village﹚, Halipai, Tamalakau, Murivurivuk and Vankiu. According a 1998 government figures, the Puyuma population totals9,567 (figures in 2000).

　　Although the Puyuma share a common language and the same habits and customs, each village constitutes an independent and autonomous political unit. The different villages may have been drawn into blood feuds or armed attacks against each other on account of minor disputes, but in other respects they retain links with each other. To the northeast the Puyuma are in contact with the Ami, to the west with the Rukai, and to the south with the Paiwan. Their genealogies occasionally reveal marriage rela-tionships with the Ami or the Paiwan.

　　Traditionally the Puyuma depend for their livelihood on tilling hillside plots which are cleared by burning, and their agricul-tural crops include millet, taro, sweet potatoes and beans. Fishing and hunting, which are important secondary sources of food are carried out by the menfolk during the agricultural slack season. In Puyuma society, distribution is effected by the presentation of gifts, and barter exchange is something of a rarity. The family functions economically as a unit of common production and consumption, although where there is a shortage of labour the Puyuma do offer their labour to neighbours in exchange for theirs.

　　Puyuma social organization does incorporate a system of age grades, although not such a strict one as that of the Ami. Neither does the Puyuma headman enjoy such exalted prestige as his Paiwan counterpart, for the right to dispose of land ownership does not belong to him. The Puyuma men’s houses are the focus for public affairs of the whole village,and in theory these are made up of adolescent and young adult males. These live in the separate men’s houses of which two types are known, which are where they receive their tribal education and warrior training and so form the core of the village’s warrior organization.

　　Each village contains a certain number of ritual worship groups. Each such group holds a harvest ceremony twice a year, focussing on its own ritual house. High prestige is enjoyed by the village ritual head, who manages the ritual ceremonies concerning warfare and hunting as well as various communal festivities connected with the harvest celebrations. Rituals linked to the lives of individuals and their customary observances are conducted by shamans, who also take a hand in family rituals in honour of the ancestors.

　　The Puyuma kinship system is bilateral with multilineal affiliation with ritual groups, and it is influenced by the principle of inheritance by the eldest daughter. The characteristic features of a bilateral kinship system are that the relatives on both the father’s and the mother’s side are completely equal, as are the offspring of sons and daughters alike. Where an eldest daughter inherits the family wealth, she brings her husband into the house-hold and their residence is matrilocal. Although the younger daughters in the family may set up separate households after marriage, they must continue to live with their elder sister at the beginning of their marriage. Only when they have born their first child may they set up home independently, and even then the materials and labour for building the new home are supplied by the eldest sister. Thus the eldest daughter enjoys a close relationship with her parents and sisters, and within the circle of immediate relatives women do occupy a position of seniority. Beyond this immediate circle, however, men and women share kinship equality.

　　By nature the Puyuma are an open-hearted people, and have developed cordial relations with other tribal peoples. Culturally they have been very deeply influenced by the Chinese, and through this acculturation process they are gradually advancing towards a more modernized society.

Puyuma Buildings
a﹚ Men’s house for young adults ﹙takobani-ami﹚,Puyuma village.
　　This house on its circular platform is raised on tall piles, and is where the adolescents of the village from the age of 13 or 14 go for their tribal training as warriors. They live here each year from August to January, receiving instruction from senior young adults and the village elders. The rigorous, Spartan educational regime they undergo nurtures the Puyuma warrior spirit and encourages their sense of tribal superiority.

b﹚ Men’s house for young adults﹙parakoan﹚, Ka-savakan village.
　　The political organization of Ka-savakan village is based on the men’s house for young adults. Apart from its political and administrative functions, this also has educational and military functions which loom even larger. Puyuma educational training is directed towards adolescents and unmarried young adults, beginning at the age of 13 or 14 and continuing up to the age of 23 or 24. For these ten years all males have an obligation to undergo training, except for those who have married or who have passed the age of 24. Besides nurturing a Spartan warrior spirit, this training provides the most important education for life for young Puyuma males as they approach adulthood. This men’s house also serves as a clan ritual house, and is used for prayers and ritual ceremonies.

c﹚ Ritual house﹙Karumaan﹚.
　　The Puyuma resort to shamans to conduct the ritual observances required in their individual lives, as well as the various household rituals of ancestor-worship. Shamans carry out their prayers and ritual actions in the ritual house. Each Puyuma lineage or clan has its own ritual house, and so one commonly finds several ritual houses within each village.

　　In former times the ritual house was also a domestic building, but today it is reserved exclusively for worship of the ancestral spirits.