Shamans and Origin Myth──Okinawan Yutas and Amaterasu──

Abstract

Many Okinawan shamans, the yuta, take Amaterasu as their guardian deity or guide. According to the Japanese myth of origin, Amaterasu was present at both the Ise Shrines and the Imperial Court. In the middle of the Heian Period Amaterasu was also worshiped as a deity of folk religion, inside as well as outside of Kyoto. This means that the spirit of Amaterasu, when possessing various religious leaders and shamans, became at the same time a symbol of their origin. However, the yutas’ worship of Amaterasu may cause a conflict by opposing the Japanese nation and, therewith, become a political problem.

  When the author met with a yuta during his fieldwork in Okinawa, she scolded him sharply saying: “Your [Japanese] Amaterasu was wrong to have made the Okinawan people suffer the bitter experience of a terrible war.”

  By diversifying and multi-channeling Amaterasu as origin from semantic and historical viewpoints, this study examines the topic “shaman and the myth of origin” in present society.