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HUNTER
SCHOOL
“In the indigenous literary firmament, Sakinu has always been one of our most important stars. His stories of growing up a Paiwan boy are engaging and environmentally conscious, and his simple wisdom will take your breath away. He may not be known in New York, London, Paris, or Milan, but his generosity, insight, and forgiveness make him one of the most important writers in the world.”
—WITI IHIMAERA
Author of The Whale Rider
“Sakinu’s work shares with the world an aspect of Taiwan that has been overlooked, namely its rich indigenous culture and history as well as the inner world of a charismatic tribal leader and teacher whose deep connection to the primordial source of our consciousness helps bring us back to our natural state of wellbeing.”
—CINDY THEIL
Producer of The Sage Hunter, a film based on Sakinu Ahronglong’s life
“Sakinu’s work does not just make you smile – in it you can also perceive the allure of the alpine wilderness and the responses the Paiwan people have evolved in this wilderness.”
—WU MING-YI
Author of The Stolen Bicycle, listed for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize
“Hunter School is an important addition to the still small but growing corpus of Taiwan’s indigeous writing in English translation. Ably and lovingly translated by Darryl Sterk, the collection of tales, in which the author assays what it means to be Paiwan in contemporary Taiwan, is now available to the English-speaking reader and should not be missed.”
—JOHN BALCOM
Award-winning translator of Chinese literature, philosophy, and children’s books
HUNTER
SCHOOL
Sakinu Ahronglong
Translated from Mandarin by
Darryl Sterk
This translation first published by Honford Star 2020
© Sakinu Ahronglong 1998
Translation copyright © Darryl Sterk 2020
All rights reserved
The moral right of the translator and editors has been asserted.
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9997912-8-5
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9997912-9-2
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover illustration by Chia-Chi Yu
Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Republic of China (Taiwan)
CONTENTS
The Warrior Who Crossed the Sea
The Hunter Who Crossed a Continent
Introduction
Ever since I was a boy, I’ve seen my Paiwan tribespeople inundated by society, carried away in the flood. Growing up, I witnessed members of my tribe getting eaten away by reality, even swallowed whole. Reality’s pursuit is relentless, while tradition has receded from us, leaving us helpless and indecisive, leaving wounds in our hearts – in our innermost worlds. The reality is that our villages have been invaded by foreign culture, which has fragmented the tribal social structure and deprived us of the totemic tattoos that adorned the bodies of our ancestors. Without the tattoos, many of us try to pass as Han Chinese. Unable to recognize us, our ancestral spirits have not been able to give us their blessings or offer us comfort.
I
