Kochapogan Settlement of Rukai Tribe

 Address:Geographical location : Wutai Township, Pingtung County tea segment, Wutai Township, Pingtung County Longitude : 120.736390839191, Latitude : 22.6993515602984
 Subject:AssetClassification : Historic Monument, AssetsLevel : National Historic Monument, Asset Type : Stone House

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【Introduction】

The Kochapogan Settlement is a settlement of the West Rukai tribe. It is located in Wutai Township of Pingtung County, which lies on the west side of Wuton Mountain, to the north of South Ailiao Creek, and to the east of Shandimen. Built on a mountain slope at an elevation of approximately 930 meters, the settlement is also known as the “Home of the Cloud Leopard.” Most of the structures in the Kochapogan Settlement of the Rukai Tribe are scattered along the mountain slope, with the house of the tribal chief at their centre. A water source and an assembly area are located north of the settlement. To the southwest is a stone rack where the tribe’s ancestors used to put skulls. Most of the houses are built on rectangular layouts with local gray-black stone slates and shales. The houses are therefore popularly known as slate houses. Inside each house is a single spacious room, divided into different areas by a central column, a bed platform and other objects. These areas include a living room, a granary, a bed platform, and a pigpen. Fire pits arebuilt into the living room andgranary grounds. A stone column and intricate wood sculptures decorate the front of the chief’s house. The hundred pacer snake is an exclusive symbol used by the chief and the nobility.Civilian houses feature fewer decorations. The location of Kochapogan settlement within the depths of the forest made its transportation inconvenient. In 1977, the tribe relocated to a river terrace to the west. Surrounded by mountains and verdant dense forest, the neatly arranged houses of the old settlement merge seamlessly with their environment. The settlement is part of the Rukai tribe’s collective memory and a treasure of aboriginal culture.

 

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