鳥居龍藏於1898年在阿里山tapangx（達邦）大社看見鄒族婦人製陶，他拍下了照片，在照片註記：「鄒族婦女對製陶的造詣很高，現在卻只剩兩個婦人會製造。我想這僅存的兩位婦人去世之後，阿里山的古老製陶技藝便會失傳。」令人惋惜的是，就如鳥居龍藏所預言，之後鄒族快速遺忘傳統陶作，甚且，部落的陶器，族人以kavo’oe稱之，實則此名係由漢語（閩南語）而來。鄒族部落遺忘祖先製陶、用陶文化己久，最大原因在於替代品取得容易，且替代品耐用、產量大、製程快、價格低廉、更換簡便等。這種趨勢於清朝時期鄒族與漢人交易開始，而在阿里山森林鐵路開通之後更為快速。鄒族原有的kuyayanx（陶器）僅能見諸博物館，完全在生活中消失了。1990年以後，原住民族重新嘗試復振語言文化，加以外來作物如茶、咖啡樹種引入，逐漸成為部落產業，而旅遊動線進入部落，民宿與餐飲的需求，造成陶作的再現。本文透過文獻整理、田野工作、造訪博物館典藏，回溯鄒族原有的製陶傳統，期能掌握部落陶土產地、形制、技法，並釐清鄒陶之名由kuyayanx，轉而為kavo’oe，現在逐漸成為soethui（飲杯）／othui（碗）的可能，冀望它與鄒族部落新興的產業共伴而行。

Torii Ryuzo saw cou woman making pottery in tapangx tribe in 1898 and took a picture of it, noting:’’cou woman have a high degree of pottery, but now there are only 2 women left to make pottery. I think after the pass away of these two remaining women, cou’s ancient pottery skills will be lost’’Regrettably, as Torii Ryuzo predicted it, the cou gradually forgot about traditional pottery and even called it ’kavo’oe’, which is derived from Hen/Hokkien language. Cou people has long forgotten its ancestral pottery culture, mainly because substitutes are easily available, durable, large in production, fast in production and low in price. This trend is related to the reclamation of Han Chinese in modern times, the leasing of land and the opening of the Alishan Forest Railway. The original pottery of the cou people has disappeared from life and is only found in museums. However, after 1990, the indigenous people tried to revive the culture and language, and in addition, cou people with the introduction of exotic crops such as tea and coffee trees, it gradually became an important industry of the cou people, indirectly causing the reproduction of pottery. Through documentation, fieldwork, and visits to museum collections, this article confirms the original clay collection, pottery tradition of the cou people, hopes to know the origin of cou pottery techniques, and clarify that the name of cou pottery has changed from kuyayanx to kavo’oe, and now gradually becomes the possibility of soethui(drinking cup), hoping that it will accompany the emerging industry of the cou people.