八部大王又稱八部大神,是居住在酉水沿岸的土家人公認的祖先神之一,其原型可以追溯至較早時期的部落英雄。有關傳說在漫長的時光中被完善,且局限于湘西境內土家族的居住區域,并以龍山、保靖、永順等縣為核心區域。其傳承的顯耀程度,與土家人居住的密度成正比。在傳承的核心地區,其神廟更是鼎盛一時,比比皆是。八部大王的傳說不僅有單純的民族性,而且還具有區域社會性,因為在此區域界線之外,即便是同一民族也無法將此傳說內化成自我族群的歷史記憶。而生活在傳播區域內的人們,則出于日常知識與交往的需要,通過這一傳說而強化了族群身份的認同意識。

The King of Eight Tribes,also known as the God of Eight Tribes,is recognized as one of the ancestral gods by Tujia people,who lived on the banks of You River.His prototype can be traced back to the earlier tribal hero.The legend has been perfected for a long time,and limited to the territory of western Hunan where Tujia people live.Long Shan,Bao Jing and Yong Shun are the core regions of the regional legend.The highlighting degree of its inheritance is proportional to the density of the Tujia population.In the core regions of the regional legend,the king’s temples can be found everywhere.The legend of the king not only has nationality,but also has regional sociality.Outside of the region line,people,even those from the same ethnic,cannot make the legend internalized into their historical memory.Because of the need for daily communication and knowledge,people who live in the same area intensified their ethnic identity through the spread of the legend.