| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 歷史學系所 === 101 === A combination of dancing, music and Saman''s ritual practices with sacred instruments is one of the traditional practices ancient Chinese employed to fight against disease, plague, or physical threats imposed by sudden incidents. Taiwan has seen the customary practice of Jitong''s performing with the "Five Sacred Instruments" survive the Dutch colonization, the rule of Koxinga and the 200-year sovereignty of the Manchu dynasty. It was even considered exotic in the eyes of the Japanese during the Japanese colonial period.
The Five Sacred Instruments include a seven-star sword, a nail stick (brass rod and wolf tooth stick), a moon ax (moon eyebrow ax, double ax), a nail-studded ball and a Sawfish Sword. Among them, "Sawfish Sword," which is extremely special, is the only purely natural and a magic kind of artifact. How did it transform itself into a religious artifact and an object of faith from a natural living creature? Where did people obtain it? By whom was it first used? How did it become one of the Five Sacred Instruments? All these questions are worth delving into.
"Material culture" provides an important way of manifesting that a rich cultural heritage is embodied in discovered artifacts. With the help of field studies and surveys on Buddhist artifact shops, online shops and temple visitors, the researcher will, among others, carry out a systematic description and explication on the extended functions, material variations, and pricing of the Five Sacred Instruments within the context of the material culture. The statistics results achieved in this thesis creates room for more academic endeavors for the days to come in terms of the studies on special Taiwanese ritual rites.
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