A RELIGOUS ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH FOR THE SUCCESSION TO THE PRIESTESS "NORO" IN RYUKYU ISLANDS (ISHIGAKI AND KUME ISLS.)

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The Noro titled 'Yaeyama-Houruza' has been handed down from mother to daughter in relation to 'Sanyo-Uji', except in an emergency situation after the 17th century. The late Houruza has been judged from various points of view. It depends on which value they appreciate, her achievements or her improper succession. I think the confusing public criticism about her has been brought about as a result of the situation where she was completely deprived of political and economical privileges appendant to the title. It is the same of the present Houruza, so she behaves as if she is a shaman 'Yuta', though she belongs to the proper 'Ie' -line, Choei-Uji. Considering that the late 'Chinbei' in Kume isl. got strong support from the village authority, and the present Chinbei has less support, as it is, the situation of Houruza may show the reason of the confusion public criticism about her.In Kume isl. I found Chinbei ; the chief of Noro, is just the priest, and it is not necessary for her to get ability to be possessed and then the succession is made on condition of a particular Ie-line, though in it there is something of the elements of the will of god. In Kume, there were ten Noros, at present three, Gushikawa, Gima, Gushiku. There have been various kinds of succession in Noro, for example, by patrilineal inheritance in Gushiku Noro. The idea of succession by Ie-line is regarded as important, but the idea of that accoding to the will of god is revealed more clearly than that in Chinbei. On condition of a principle of succession by Ie-line, there is a feeling, more or less, that they ask for god's approval for it. In Ishigaki, that feeling is much stronger, and seems to cause shamanistic phenomenan.