ケニア・カンバにおけるウイッチ

抄録

The purpose of this paper is to give a brief account of Kamba witches (aoi, sing. muoi) . This paper is based on field work done in the Kyuso Division, the northern part of Kitui District, Kenya, from December 1970 to July 1973. People say they can find witches in every village. They fear witches very much. They don't want to marry the daughters of witches. Therefore, witches' daughters usually marry poor men with few cattle. The bride-wealth paid for a witch's daughter is less than normal. The characteristics of witches described include : (1) Witches are all women and their magical power (uoi or woman's uoi, uoiwa mundu muka) is inherited through the female line by doing a specific ritual in which mother and daughter join and shake their buttocks together, chanting a spell. Witches' sons do not inherit uoi at all. They are not regarded as witches. Kamba witchcraft is deeply involved with femininity. (2) Witches do not use any magical medicines (miti, ndawa) or fetishes (ithitu) . People explain that witches hide these kinds of things. Witches bewitch people by just scratching their buttocks or saying some suggestive words such as "You will see later." Witches' magical power originates from the inside of their bodies, especially their genital organs, not from medicine men or others. (3) It is believed that witches cause people many kinds of misfortunes such as disease, wounds, sterility, death, and loss of work. Witches can also cause 'disease, death, and sterility among livestock and the destruction of crops.