A Miko (巫女) is a Shinto[1] term in Japan, indicating a shrine maiden (jinja)[2] or a supplementary priestess[3] who was once likely seen as a shaman[4] but in modern Japanese culture is understood to be an institutionalized[5] role in daily shrine life, trained to perform various tasks, ranging from sacred cleansing[6] to performing the Kagura,[7] a sacred dance.
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The traditional attire of a miko would be a pair of red hakama (which are long, divided trousers) or a long red slightly pleated skirt tied with a bow, a white haori (which is a kimono jacket), and some white or red hair ribbons. In Shintoism, the color white symbolizes purity.
Traditional Miko tools include azusayumi 梓弓 or the “catalpa bow;”[8] the tamagushi 玉串 or “offertory sakaki-tree branches;”[9] and the gehōbako 外法箱 or the “supernatural box that contains dolls, animal and human skulls ... [and] Shinto prayer beads.”[10]
The Miko also uses “bells, drums, candles, and bowls of rice”[11] in their ceremonies.
The Japanese word Miko or fujo --“female shaman; shrine maiden” -- is usually written 巫女 compounding the kanji fu, Miko, or kannagi 巫 "shaman" and jo, onna, or me 女 "woman; female". Miko was archaically written 神子 (lit. "kami/god child") and 巫子 ("shaman child").
Mikos performed in Japan throughout history. The term Miko means possession by gods and spirits, and while originally perhaps all Mikos employed ecstasy, the term gradually came to include many groups which did not use ecstasy. Mikos performed both within the shrines and outside of the shrines, divining, driving out evil spirits, performing sacred dances, etc., the purpose of which was to serve mankind by preserving life and bringing happiness to man.[12]
Miko are known by many names; Fairchild lists twenty-six terms for “shrine attached Miko”[13] and forty-three for “non shrine attached Miko.”[14] Other names are ichiko 市子 (lit. "market/town child") “female medium; fortuneteller” and reibai 霊媒 (lit. “spirit go-between”)
In English the word is often translated as shrine maiden, though freer renderings often simply use the phrase female shaman (shamanka), or, as Lafcadio Hearn translated it: “Divineress.”[15]
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 Ryukyu Islands. 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. [16]
Miko traditions date back to ancient Jōmon era[17] of Japanese history, when female prophets who would go into “trances and convey the words of the gods,” the kami, an act comparable with “the pythia or sibyl in Ancient Greece.”[18]
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, “[the Miko] performed a variety of religious and political functions.”[19] One traditional school of Miko, Kuly adds, “claimed to descend from the Goddess Uzume.”[20]
During the Nara period (710–794) and Heian period (794–1185), 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. [21]
During the feudal Kamakura period (1185–1333) when Japan was controlled by warring shogun 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. The travelling Miko, known as the aruki Miko, became associated with prostitution.[22]
During in the Edo period (1603–1868), writes Groemer, “the organizational structures and arts practiced by female shamans in eastern Japan underwent significant transformations.”[23] Though in the Meiji period (1868–1912), 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.[24]
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 巫女舞 or Miko-kagura 巫女神楽.
Modern miko are often seen at Shinto shrines, where they assist with shrine functions, perform ceremonial dances, offer omikuji fortune telling, and sell souvenirs. Kuly (2003:201) describes the contemporary miko, "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 (1875–1962), who first studied Japanese female shamans, differentiated them (see Kawamura 2003:258–259) into jinja miko 神社巫女 "shrine shamans" who dance with bells and participate in yudate 湯立て "boiling water" rituals, "kuchiyose shamans" 口寄せ巫女 "spirit medium shamans" who speak on behalf of the deceased, and kami uba 神姥 "god women" who engage in cult worship and invocations (for instance, the Tenrikyo founder Nakayama Miki).
Researchers have further categorized contemporary miko in terms of their diverse traditions and practices. Fairchild (1962:62–85) grouped them into: blind itako (concentrated in north and east Japan), mostly blind okamin (north and east Japan), blind waka or owaka (northeastern Japan), moriko (north and east of Tokyo), nono (central Japan), blind zatokaka (northwest Japan), sasa hataki who tap sasa "bamboo grass" on their faces (northeast of Tokyo), plus various family and village organizations. Kawamura (2003:263-264) divided miko or fujo by blindness between blind ogamiya 尾上屋 "invocation specialist" 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 (Fairchild 1962:55). Many scholars (e.g., Blacker 1975:140, Hardacre 1996, Kuly 2003:205) identify shamanic miko characteristics in Shinshūkyō "Japanese New Religions" such as Sukyo Mahikari, Oomoto, and Shinmeiaishinkai.
In Zeami Motokiyo's 15th-century Noh drama Aoi no Ue, a miko named Teruhi performs an exorcism to remove the spirit of Lady Rokujo from the body of Lady Aoi.[25]
In the 1985 bestselling historical fantasy novel Teito Monogatari (Hiroshi Aramata), the heroine Keiko Tatsumiya, is a miko who serves the guardian spirit of Taira no Masakado. She channels the power of the bodhisattva Kwannon to contend with harmful spirits who threaten her family and the capital Tokyo.
Manga and anime typically portray a miko as a heroine who fights evil spirits or demons. Miko are frequently ascribed with magical or supernatural powers, especially divination, and skilled in Japanese martial arts. Examples are Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens and Kannazuki no Miko. In western role-playing games, they sometimes correspond with clerics or white witches. Some romantic bishōjo video games and visual novels portray miko as attractive but prim girls. Fictional Kuro miko 黒巫女 "Black/Dark Miko" are an evil counterpart to traditional miko; for instance, the manga Shrine of the Morning Mist depicts kuro miko as proficient in demonology and black magic. The character Rei Hino from Sailor Moon is a miko in her civilian form, and is shown to use shintoist shamanistic abilities such as dispelling evil forces with an ofuda and divining the future. In the manga and anime series Inuyasha, the characters Kagome and Kikiyo are mikos, capable of shooting sacred arrows and erecting magical barriers. Reimu Hakurei, arguably the main character of the Touhou Project series of dōjin soft games, is a miko.