Miko


In Shinto, a miko is a shrine maiden or a supplementary priestess. Miko were once likely seen as shamans but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily shrine life, trained to perform tasks, ranging from sacred cleansing to performing the sacred Kagura dance.

Physical description

The traditional attire of a miko would be a pair of red hakama, a white kosode, and some white or red hair ribbons. In Shintoism, the color white symbolizes purity. The garment put over the kosode during Kagura dances is called a chihaya.
Traditional Miko tools include the Azusa Yumi, the tamagushi, and the gehōbako.
The miko also use bells, drums, candles, and bowls of rice in ceremonies.

Definition

The Japanese words miko and fujo are usually written 巫女 as a compound of the kanji , and . Miko was archaically written and .
Miko once performed spirit possession and takusen to communicate the divine will or message of that kami or spirit; also included in the category of takusen is "dream revelation" as vocational functions in their service to shrines. As time passed, they left the shrines and began working independently in secular society. Miko at shrines today do no more than sit at reception counters and perform kagura dance. In addition to a medium or a miko, the site of a takusen may occasionally also be attended by a sayaniwa who interprets the words of the possessed person to make them comprehensible to other people present. Kamigakari and takusen may be passive, when a person speaks after suddenly becoming involuntarily possessed or has a dream revelation; they can also be active, when spirit possession is induced in a specific person to ascertain the divine will or gain a divine revelation.
Miko are known by many names; Fairchild lists 26 terms for "shrine-attached Miko" and 43 for "non-shrine-attached Miko". Other names are ichiko meaning "female medium; fortuneteller", and reibai.
In English, the word is often translated as "shrine maiden", though freer renderings often simply use the phrase "female shaman" or, as Lafcadio Hearn translated it, "Divineress".
Some scholars prefer the transliteration, contrasting the Japanese Mikoism with other Asian terms for female shamans. As Fairchild explains:
Women played an important role in a region stretching from Manchuria, China, Korea and Japan to the . In Japan these women were priests, soothsayers, magicians, prophets and shamans in the folk religion, and they were the chief performers in organized Shintoism. These women were called Miko, and the author calls the complex "Mikoism" for lack of a suitable English word.

Mikoism

History

Miko traditions date back to the prehistoric Jōmon period of Japan, when female shamans would go into “trances and convey the words of the gods”, an act comparable with "the pythia or sibyl in Ancient Greece."
The earliest record of anything resembling the term "miko", is of the Chinese reference to Himiko, Japan's earliest substantiated historical reference, however it is completely unknown whether Himiko was a miko, or even if miko existed in those days.
The early Miko was an important social figure who was "associated with the ruling class". "In addition to her ritual performances of ecstatic trance", writes Kuly, " performed a variety of religious and political functions". One traditional school of Miko, Kuly adds, "claimed to descend from the Goddess Uzume".
During the Nara period and Heian period, government officials tried to control Miko practices. As Fairchild notes:
In 780 A.D. and in 807 A.D. official bulls against the practice of ecstasy outside of the authority of the shrines were published. These bulls were not only aimed at ecstasy, but were aimed at magicians, priests, sorcerers, etc. It was an attempt to gain complete control, while at the same time it aimed at eradicating abuses which were occurring.

During the feudal Kamakura period when Japan was controlled by warring shōgun states:
The Miko was forced into a state of mendicancy as the shrines and temples that provided her with a livelihood fell into bankruptcy. Disassociated from a religious context, her performance moved further away from a religious milieu and more toward one of a non-ecclesiastical nature.

During the Edo period, writes Groemer, "the organizational structures and arts practiced by female shamans in eastern Japan underwent significant transformations". Though in the Meiji period, many shamanistic practices were outlawed:
After 1867 the Meiji government's desire to create a form of state Shinto headed by the emperor—the shaman-in-chief of the nation—meant that Shinto needed to be segregated from both Buddhism and folk-religious beliefs. As a result, official discourse increasingly repeated negative views of Miko and their institutions.

There was an edict called Miko Kindanrei enforced by security forces loyal to Imperial forces, forbidding all spiritual practices by miko, issued in 1873, by the Religious Affairs Department.
The Shinto kagura dance ceremony, which originated with "ritual dancing to convey divine oracles", has been transformed in the 20th century into a popular ceremonial dance called Miko-mai or Miko-kagura.

Traditional training

The position of a shaman passed from generation to generation, but sometimes someone not directly descended from a shaman went voluntary into training or was appointed by the village chieftains. To achieve this, such a person had to have some potential. Several characteristics could be seen as a sign a person was called towards shamanism: neurosis, hallucinations, unusual behavior and hysteria. These conditions are still referred to as ‘shamanistic sicknesses’.
To become a shaman, the girl had to undergo very intensive training specific to the kuchiyose miko. An acknowledged elder shaman, who could be a family member or a member of the tribe, would teach the girl in training the techniques required to be in control of her trance state. This would be done by rituals including washings with cold water, regular purifying, abstinence and the observation of the common taboos like death, illness and blood. She would also study how to communicate with kami and spirits of the deceased, as a medium, by being possessed by those spirits. This was achieved by chanting and dancing, thus therefore the girl was taught melodies and intonations that were used in songs, prayers and magical formulas, supported by drum and rattlers.
Other attributes used for rituals were mirrors and swords. She also needed the knowledge of the several names of the kami that were important for her village, as well as their function. Finally she learned a secret language, only known by insiders and so discovered the secrets of fortune-telling and magical formulas.
After the training, which could take three to seven years, the girl would get her initiation rite to become a real shaman. This mystic ceremony was witnessed by her mentor, other elders and fellow shamans. The girl wore a white shroud as a symbol for the end of her previous life. The elders began chanting and after a while the girl started to shiver. Next, her mentor would ask the girl which kami had possessed her and therefore be the one she would serve. As soon as she answered, the mentor would throw a rice cake into her face, causing the girl to faint. The elders would bring the girl to a warm bed and keep her warm until she woke up. When the whole ordeal was over and the girl had woken up, she was permitted to wear a beautifully coloured wedding dress and perform the corresponding tradition of the wedding toast.
The resemblance of a wedding ceremony as the initiation rite suggests that the trainee, still a virgin, had become the bride of the kami she served. During her trance, said kami had requested the girl to his shrine. In some areas of Japan she had to bring a pot filled with rice and a pan. An old, long-abandoned practice, had the miko engage in sexual intercourse with a kannushi, who would represent the kami. Any resulting child would be considered the kami’s baby.
In some cases, girls or women were visited at night by a travelling spirit. After this visit, the woman announced to the public her new position of being possessed by a kami by placing a white-feathered arrow on the roof of her house.
Sacred prostitution was once practised by the Miko within traditional Shinto in Japan. There were once Shinto beliefs that prostitution was sacred, and there used to be lodgings for the temple prostitutes on the shrine grounds. This traditional practise came to an end during the beginning of the Meiji era, due to the encroachment of Western Christian morality, and the government implementing the Shinbutsu bunri; which, among other things, drastically decreased the roles of the Miko, and modified Shinto beliefs until it became what is now colloquially referred to as State Shinto.

Contemporary miko

Contemporary modern miko are often seen at Shinto shrines, where they assist with shrine functions, perform ceremonial dances, offer omikuji fortune telling, sell souvenirs, and assist a Kannushi in Shinto rites. Kuly describes the contemporary miko as: "A far distant relative of her premodern shamanic sister, she is most probably a university student collecting a modest wage in this part-time position."
The ethnologist Kunio Yanagita, who first studied Japanese female shamans, differentiated them into jinja miko who dance with bells and participate in yudate rituals, kuchiyose miko who speak on behalf of the deceased, and kami uba who engage in cult worship and invocations.
Researchers have further categorized contemporary miko in terms of their diverse traditions and practices. Such categorizations include blind itako, mostly blind okamin, blind waka or owaka, moriko, nono, blind zatokaka, sasa hataki who tap sasa on their faces, plus family and village organizations. Others have divided miko or fujo by blindness between blind ogamiya or ogamisama who perform kuchiyose and spirit mediumship and sighted miko' or kamisama who perform divination and invocations.
In the eclectic Shugendō religion, male priests who practiced ecstasy often married miko. Many scholars identify shamanic miko characteristics in Shinshūkyō such as Sukyo Mahikari, Ōmoto, and Shinmeiaishinkai.