過去，無論在日月潭地區原住民（所謂的「邵族」）、阿里山地區（所謂的「鄒族」），甚至在廣泛的臺灣社會民眾之間，均曾流傳「邵族」是「鄒族」一支的這種看法或知識。本文即以日治時期對於今天被通稱為「邵族」的日月沖地區原住民之認識為討論中心 ，並暫時擱置過去人類學對於「邵族」的族群分類之學術內涵，探討在日治時期「邵族」是「鄒族」一支的這種說法或知識的形成過程，並以此試圖釐清這一個多層次的歷史概念。 綜觀本文所論，在還沒有族群概念的清代，日月潭地區人文景觀記錄裏日月潭與阿里山地區之間，是明顯地被分開來看待的。到了族群分類開始建立的日本時代 ，日月潭地區原住民也進入被分類的階段。不過，對於「邵」的族群分類與認識，卻受到不同層次的社會成員不同的解讀，而出現不同的說法。換言之，「邵族」是「鄒族」的一支的說法，在日治時代的政府與學術界均未成型。把日月潭地區原住民看為「鄒族」一支的源頭，卻是來自日治時期發展的日月潭地區觀光事業。特別是自一九一六年以來，日月出現「追白鹿」的「口碑」，並經過附會而成為在一九二一年左右出現的「化蕃之由來」木牌，使得當地原住民的由來具體地化為文化，介紹給來自外地的觀光客人。所以，當人類學者們還在以不同的類別來處理日月潭原他民的族群分類的同時，社會民眾與外地族客便已經接觸經過層層附會的說法，以致可能認為「邵族」是「鄒族」一支。

It has been said that the so-called Thao Tribe (of sun-Moon Lake) belonged to one of the branches of the Tsou Tribe (of Ali Shan). This perception had once spread not even among the aborigines in both the sun-Moon Lake and Ali Shan areas but also Taiwan’s general public. To clarify the complexities of the historical conception of ‘Thao’, this paper sets aside the academic contents of the ‘Thao’ in anthropological classifications, focuses on the process leading to the formation of the view that ‘Thao as a branch of Tsou’ during the period of Japanese rule. This article has demonstrated that during the Qing period when the concept of ‘ethnic groups’ had not yet emerged, it is clear that records on the Sun-Moon Lake area. In the Japanese period which began to formulate classifications of ethnic groups, the aborigines of the Sun-Moon Lake area also entered into a new stage of being classified. However, because of the different interpretations of various social members, the classification and understanding to the ‘Thao’ remained unclear, and different viewpoints prevailed. In other words, the view that ‘Thao as a branch of Tsou’ was not yet firmly established among both government and academic circles. The sources that viewed the Sun-Moon Lake indigenous people as a branch of the ‘Tsou’ actually came from the tourist industry which prospered during that period. In particular, the legend of ‘tracing a white deer’ first appeared in 1916, which was soon adapted into a wooden inscription ‘On the Origin of the Cultivated Savages’ about 1921. this process concretely stated the ‘origin’ of the aborigines in written form and introduced to tourists. Therefore, when anthropologists still disputing about the classifications of these Sun-Moon Lake aborigines, the general public and tourists had already contacted an explanation which had undergone several reinterpretations and could lead them believe that ‘Thao as a branch of Tsou’.