Tao (Yami) Erotic

Tao (Yami) are an Austronesian people of Orchid Island, called Lanyu or Ponso no Tao, a small volcanic island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan. They are the only fully seafaring group among Taiwan's indigenous peoples and speak a Batanic or Bashiic language closely related to the Ivatan of the Batanes Islands to the south. They number a few thousand and are known by the name Tao, meaning people, as well as the older term Yami.

Society and subsistence

Tao life is centred on the sea and on the annual cycle of the flying fish. Fishing, taro and millet gardening, and the raising of small livestock sustain the community, while ritual regulates when and how fish may be caught and shared. Their most celebrated craft is the tatala, a plank-built boat assembled without nails and decorated with carved and painted designs in red, white, and black, including concentric solar motifs and a protective figure. Semi-subterranean houses shelter families from typhoons, and social life turns on households, kin, and the ritual calendar of the fishing season. Since the 1980s the Tao have campaigned against a store of nuclear waste sited on their island, a long-running grievance that has become central to their modern identity.

Appearance and adornment

The Tao share an Austronesian island physical type, with brown skin, straight black hair, and a robust build shaped by seafaring. For major rituals men wear loincloths and rattan or fibre vests, and don a distinctive conical helmet of hammered silver with narrow eye slits, made from traded coins and worn to ward off misfortune. Women weave and wear striped garments in white, black, and blue and add bead and shell ornaments. Agate and shell beads and gold and silver heirlooms are treasured, and skill in boat building, weaving, and silverwork confers prestige. The carved and painted boats remain the great emblem of Tao artistry and identity.