COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SHAMANISM IN IZUMO AREA AND THAT OF OKINAWA AREA -STUDY OF CULTURAL CONTACT-

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There are both similarities and differencies between the shamanism of Izumo area and that of Okinawa. We looked at a comparison between shamanistic festivals in Izumo area and that of Okinawa. The essential difference of the two societies is that the members of festivals of the former are almost all male. and that of the latter consisted of female members. According to Durkheim's thought that religious phenomena are based on the central mentalities in the society,this difference in festival membership shows the difference of the two cultures.We took up Onari-gami belief as a basis to study this problem of cultural difference. It is a magico-religious belief that sisters guard brothers by their spiritual influences. This belief lies at the center of Okinawan culture,and diffuses all social stratums from Kikoeogimi at the top of the religious system of Ryukyu kingdom to Noros who are the lower priestesses of it.In matrilineal societies such as Palau island and Ponape island,the sister-brother relation is more important than the parent-child relation. In both societies, there is a belief that sisters are to guard their brothers by their spiritual influences. If we take into investigation the geographical relation and other cultural similarities such as tattoos with Micronesia,we could also say that a primary matrilineal culture exists in Okinawa.