Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. An Analysis and Interpretation of Shamanism and Spirit Possession in Selected Works by Enchi Fumiko A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Japanese at Massey University Jennifer Fay Butts 1999 II Abstract The miko (shamaness) has played an important role in the mythology and history of Japan and in the life of the people up until recent times. Critics have commented on the development of mikoteki (shamanistic or mediumistic) abilities in characters in fictional works by Enchi Fumiko (1905-1986). In works written in Enchi ' s middle years, such abilities arise in and empower suppressed, unfulfilled women who are motivated by revenge. This thesis extends the existing analysis of Enchi's depiction of shamanistic women, investigating and interpreting her use of mikoteki abilities in women in four works by Enchi written during the 1950s, her middle years: Onnazaka (The Waiting Years) , "Yo" ("Enchantress"), "Mimiyoraku" (The Earring) and Onnamen (Masks). The analysis of "Mimiyoraku" is the first to have been completed by a Western scholar. For all four works, a synthesis of the anthropological, sociological and historical studies on shamanism and the miko in Japan provides a basis for analysis. Onnazaka contains allusions to latent shamanistic abilities in women and has links with spirit possession and shamanism in The Tale of Genji . Symbols, myths and elements of shamanism play an even more important role in the three other works. The development of shamanistic abilities in the main characters enables them to develop links with the spirit world, to empower and heal themselves and to effect changes in their own lives. While the manifestation of shamanistic abilities is connected to the need for revenge, more importantly, through such abilities Enchi connects the women to the creative force of life in these works. iii Acknowledgements I wish to thank my supervisor, Penelope Shino, Lecturer in Japanese, for her advice, insight and encouragement during the research and writing of this thesis. I am grateful to Dr Fumio Kakubayashi , Senior Lecturer in Japanese, who read and commented on a draft of Chapter Two. I also wish to thank Professor Kiyoharu Ono for his support and encouragement during my years of study in the East Asian Studies Programme. My grateful thanks are due to Masami and Yoko Murata for discussions on points in the Japanese texts and for elucidating aspects of Japanese culture for me. Finally, I wish to thank to my husband David for his constant support and help, and my sons Darren and Sam for their encouragement. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Purpose and Focus of the Thesis 3 Selection of Works Studied 5 Review of Literature 6 Structure of the Thesis 11 CHAPTER ONE Enchi Fumiko: Her Life and Writing 13 CHAPTER TWO Shamanism, Spirit Possession 23 and Japanese Women's Power Shamanism and Spirit Possession 24 The Pre-Buddhist Shamaness 28 Archaeological Evidence 30 Queen Himiko 31 Izanami and Izanagi 3 2 Amaterasu Omikami 33 Ame no Uzume 34 The Powerful Miko 35 The Snake Woman 36 Other Evidence of Women' s Power 37 The Decline of the Miko 38 Spirit Possession in the Heian Period 39 The Folk Shamaness 41 The Shamaness and Spirit Possession Today 42 The Foundresses of the New Religions 46 Shamanism and the Arts 48 Discussion 51 CHAPTER THREE Onnazaka (Tile Waiting Years) The Plot of Onnazaka Toshi Torno Suga Links with Spirit Possession in The Tale of Genji CHAPTER FOUR "Yo" ("The Enchantress") and "Mimiyoraku" (The Earring) "Yo" Plot Outline Chigako "Mimiyoraku" Plot Outline Takiko Discussion CHAPTER FIVE Onnamen (Masks) Plot Outline "Nonomiyaki" Mieko Yasuko Harume Female Spiritual Power and Androgyny Conclusion 52 53 55 56 63 65 67 67 67 69 75 75 77 84 85 85 87 89 97 100 102 105 Bibliography Sources in Japanese Sources in English 111 111 113 1 Introduction Japanese women writers ... are undeniably serving as the most articulate and influential leaders not only in updating female cosmology but also in awakening men to reassess the male paradigm as they have never done before. In this sense, contemporary Japanese women are fulfilling their sacerdotal role as effectively as their shamanistic ancestors.1 Japanese women have traditionally possessed the ability to become miko (shamanesses), divinely inspired by gods and spirits. This ancient and powerful figure of the miko, who acted as a bridge between the gods and humans by summoning gods or spirits into herself for the benefit of the tribe or community, has existed in the Japanese consciousness since prehistoric times. Over time as the male­ dominated ideologies from the continent increased in influence the power of the shamaness waned. Nonetheless, descendants of these powerful women exist in the present day, not only in the increasingly rare kuchiyose (mediums) or the foundresses of New Religions, but also in the figures of some women writers, whose writing resembles the katari, narrative of the shamaness. The writer Enchi Fumiko2 (1905- 1986) is one such example; not only does she herself perform a shamanistic function in her writing, but she brings to life in her stories and novels shamanistic women who draw on a spiritual energy which links them to their forebears and enables them to empower themselves within a patriarchal society. Enchi had a great interest in Japanese female shamanism and spirit possession and her writing reveals her depth of scholarship in this area. Enchi' s place a~ one of modern Japan's finest writers is unquestioned. The Japanese critic Takami Jun spoke of her in the highest terms of praise and called Onnazaka (The Waiting Years) an unprecedented masterpiece among contemporary literature.3 S. Yumiko Hulvey states that Enchi "made an enormous contribution to the literary 1 Chieko Mulhern, "Japan" inLongmanAnthologyofWorldliteratureby Women 1875-1975, ed. M. Arkin and B. Shollar, p. 1161. 2 This thesis follows the Japanese practice of writing the surname first followed by the given name for Japanese names. 3 Mentioned in Naoko Rieger, Enchi Fumiko 's Literature: The Portrait of Women in Enchi Fumiko 's Selected Works. p. 90. 2 tradition she inherited from the premodem writers and established a modem tradition of excellence that will be hard to surpass". 4 Hulvey further notes that Enchi is the "harbinger of ideas of vital concern to postmodern women writers" and that her themes involving supernatural events occurring in dream-like mythical settings are influential and discernible in texts by women writers of the next generation such as Yoshimoto Banana and Tsushima Yuko.5 C. Van Gessel asserts that Enchi is the "first woman to establish a clear, sustained literary voice for herself in almost seven centuries" and that she was one of a group of writers who were instrumental in overthrowing the "narratorially strangled" genre of autobiographical fiction created and maintained by male writers in the early twentieth century.6 Enchi is also praised for her deep knowledge of Japanese classical literature and for the unique way she incorporated elements of the classics into her works.7 Several critics have commented on Enchi ' s own shamanistic role as a writer m bringing to life the women writers of the past and in telling the previously untold stories of ordinary Japanese women. Gessel writes that: Reading works such as Onnazaka ... or Onnamen .. . one gets the strong impression that the living ghost (the ikiryo) of a Heian woman writer has found lodging within the withered, tormented body of a contemporary shamaness, and that the voice which speaks to us through En chi ' s narrators is filled with strength, passion and fury .8 Wayne Pounds claims that Enchi' s concern is "to bind the fragmentary history of women into a single continuum", to resurrect the past for the nourishment of the present. 9 Hulvey notes that Enchi played the role of medium in conjuring up the women writers of the Heian period in her works, often universalising or subverting 4 S. Yumiko Hulvey, "Enchi Fumiko" in Japanese Women Writers: A Biocritical Source Book, ed. C. Mulhern , p. 46. 5 S. Yumiko Hulvey, "The Intertextual Fabric of Narratives by Enchi Fumiko", in Japan in Traditional and Postmodern Perspectives, ed. C. Wei-Hsun Fu and S. Heine, p. 169. 6 Van C. Gessel, "Echoes of Feminine Sensibility in Literature", p. 411. 7 See for example Rieger, Enchi Fumiko 's Literature, p. 19. 8 Gessel, "Echoes of Feminine Sensibility in Literature", p. 412. 9 Wayne Pounds, "Enchi Fumiko and the Hidden Energy of the Supernatural", p. 169. .. 3 the original message to fit the needs of women in the twentieth century. 10 She regards Enchi as an author who "elected to 'write wrongs' in the world of literature" .11 This Introduction firstly outlines the purpose and focus of the thesis and the reasons for the selection of the sample of works studied. This is followed by a review of the literature on the topic. Finally, a brief outline of the structure of the thesis is provided. Purpose and Focus of the Thesis This thesis focusses on the shamanistic aspect of Enchi ' s literature. It attempts to analyse and interpret the nature of the shamanistic abilities of women depicted in a selection of works by Enchi : Onnazaka (literally Woman's Slope, 1957, translated into English as The Waiting Years in 1971), "Yo" (1956, translated into English as "Enchantress" in 1961 ), Mimiyoraku (The Earring, 1957) and Onnamen (literally Female Masks, 1958, translated into English as Masks in 1983). The thesis provides a synthesis of work by scholars on the shamanistic nature of Enchi ' s characters and adds to the understanding of Enchi ' s works by providing an in-depth study of the shamanistic characters in these four works and of how Enchi creates an atmosphere in which shamanism and spirit possession occur. Enchi' s characters have frequently been described as mikoteki (shamanistic or mediumistic) . Several critics have discussed the connections these women, often born into the pre-Second World War patriarchal Japanese society, have with women living in the polygynal Heian society, particularly the vengeful Rokuj6 lady depicted in Murasaki Shikibu ' s The Tale of Genji, whose spirit leaves her body to possess others. The development of the shamanistic qualities of such characters has been linked to women's obsession (shiinen), deep-seated grudge (onnen) and karma (go). 10 Hulvey, "Enchi Fumiko", p. 46. 11 Hulvey, "Enchi Fumiko", p. 51. 4 A mikoteki (shamanistic or mediumistic) woman is one who has links with the spirit world through spiritual possession during trance. Traditionally the miko was a shamaness, however her role degenerated to that of a medium over time and the shrine miko of today has no shamanistic function at all. The shamaness is able to control her trance at will. However, before she becomes a shamaness she will probably have experienced a period of 'spirit sickness' during which she may be subject to uncontrolled involuntary possession. Women who do not graduate to become shamanesses may also be assailed by involuntary spirit possession during a trance. The nature of shamanism and spirit possession will be examined in depth in Chapter Two. In order to understand fully Enchi' s view of shamanism and the depth to which she incorporated it into the works under consideration, the thesis also explores some of the literature available on the role of the shamaness in Japanese society in mythical, historical and contemporary contexts. Involuntary spirit possession among Japanese women, from that described in the aristocratic Heian (794-1185) society, for example in Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Gen.Ji, to the present time is also discussed. A study of this literature enables an examination of links between Enchi' s shamanistic characters and both the ancient and contemporary shamaness, including a study of Enchi' s use of symbol and myth. This thesis furthermore contends that, although the shamanistic acts of the mam protagonists of "Yo", "Mimiyoraku" and Onnamen are motivated by revenge and unfulfilled desires, the shamanistic abilities which provide a link with the spirit world empower the women to find resources within themselves. These resources enable them to overcome crises in their lives, ju~t as the shamaness of the past enabled communities to overcome crises through communication with the spirit world, and women of the Heian aristocratic society gained some measure of self-assertion and relief from suppression in their lives through spirit possession. The thesis examines how, through links with the spirit world, the main characters in "Yo", "Mimiyoraku" and Onnamen are able to heal the wounds in their own psyches, and investigates the change in the role of these women through their shamanistic experiences. 5 Selection of Works Studied The four works: Onnazaka, "Yo", "Mimiyoraku" and Onnamen were selected for study as the main characters are all middle-aged women who develop shamanistic abilities when the suppression of the self and of unfulfilled resentments and desires becomes unbearable. These works were all published in the 1950s when Enchi finally gained critical acclaim for her fiction. While there has been considerable scholarly study of Onnazaka, Onnamen and "Yo", there has been little discussion of "Mimiy6raku". No English translation of this story has as yet been published. "Mimiyoraku" was one of the works recommended to N aoko Rieger by Enc hi herself as appropriate to Rieger' s study of Enc hi ' s works on the theme of the suffering of Japanese women caused by their dependence on men and male-dominated norms and values 12 . It has also been referred to as one of Enchi's works, including "Yo" and Onnamen, in which she depicted "women' s deep­ seated grudge" (onna no onnen) which can be seen in "the slight smile like a woman's mask" ( onnamen no yo na honoka na warai). 13 Apart from Onnazaka the texts all fall into both Sodekawa's and Hulvey' s second stage of Enchi ' s works as discussed below. Although Torno, the main character of Onnazaka, manifests signs of shamanistic ability only on her deathbed, she exhibits many aspects of character and mien similar to those of the main characters of the other works. Moreover, as Pounds notes, "The Waiting Years ... in several respects reads like a preparatory study for Masks" 14 . It is therefore useful and revealing to begin an analysis ofEnchi ' s development of the shamanistic woman with a study of Onnazaka. "Yo" portrays a woman who rises above the dreariness of her life and marriage through a combination of literature and spiritual power. "Mimiyoraku" depicts a woman who, having lost her female sexual organs, feels that she has lost her identity 12 Rieger, Enchi Fumiko 's Literature, Note 5, p. 176. 13 "Enchi Fumiko", Gendai Josei Bungaku Jiten , p. 68. 14 Pounds, "Enchi Fwniko and the Hidden Energy of the Supernatural", p. 170. 6 as a woman and who is, like the characters in the other three stories, betrayed by men. The repressed sensual woman inside her is reawakened with dramatic results. Finally, she achieves both affirmation of herself as a woman, and of the value of life itself. Onnamen is a complex novel which depicts Mieko, a Rokujo-like woman who has developed powers far beyond those of the main characters of the other three stories, as existing in an environment where the world of the present and the spirit world seem to constantly overlap in a sphere of influence around her. 15 Review of Literature The following books were particularly useful for general information on Enchi ' s background and writing: Enchi Fumiko no Sekai (1981) by Kamei Hideo and Ogasawara Yoshiko, Haha Enchi Fumiko (1989) by Fuke Motoko and Enchi Fumiko 's Literature: The Portrait of Women in Enchi Fumiko 's Selected Works (1986) by Naoko Alisa Rieger. In addition to an overview of Enchi ' s literature, Rieger examines the moral and psychological development of female protagonists in eight ofEnchi ' s novels and short stories selected from different periods in her career, including "Yo" and Onnazaka. The following articles in journals and books also provided valuable information on Enchi ' s life and works: "Enchi Fumiko: 'A Writer of Tales"' by Juliet Winters Carpenter16 , "Women Writers Past and Present: Murasaki Shikibu and Enchi Fumiko" by Chieko Mulhern 17 which provides a comparison of the lives and works of Murasaki Shikibu and Enchi, and S. Yumiko Hulvey's outline ofEnchi's career and major works18 . The literature consulted for the exploration of shamanism, spirit possession and the history of the miko will be discussed in Chapter Two. Interviews by Kumasaka Atsuko19 and Takenishi Hiroko20 with Enchi provide valuable insights into the 15 Apart from "Mimiyoraku", all texts are studied in both Japanese and English. 16 In Japan Quarterly 37.3 (1990): pp. 343-55. 17 In Review of National Literatures, Vol. 18, (1993): pp. 137-164. 18 "Enchi Fumiko", in Japanese Women Writers: A Bio-critical Source Book, 1994, pp. 40-60. 19 Kumasaka Atsuko, "Intabyl1: Enchi-shi ni Kiku". Kokubungaku: Kaishaku to Kyozai no Kenkyii, Tokushu Vol. 21(July1976): pp. 26-38. 7 author' s views on shamanism and spirit possession. Doris Bargen2i provides anthropological and literary evidence for her interpretation of spirit possession in The Tale of Gen.Ji as a strategy adopted by women, albeit unconsciously, for countering male power. This provides interesting parallels with Enchi' s characters. The following writers have also been influential in formulating the ideas in this study relating to the shamanistic women in Enchi' s works. Ogasawara Yoshiko discusses how, when Enchi ' s women are betrayed in their wish to love and be loved, dissatisfaction awakens the mikoteki josei (shamanistic woman) inside the characters. 22 Through a strength which transcends reality, they try to achieve the impulse towards Eros.23 With this shamanistic ability, which is connected to a woman's physiology and flows in her blood, they try to take back the lost strength of life. 24 Whereas in works such as "Yo" and Onnamen it is revenge in the present unfulfilled reality which awakens the mikoteki josei, in later works such as Yz7kon (1970) it is the sense of deep isolation caused by the imminence of death which calls up the impulse towards Eros and causes a transformation in elderly women. 25 Ogasawara also discusses the fact that not only is Enchi ' s literary world imbued with Heian literature, but also with a theatrical world similar to that of late Edo literature, where repressed sex is diffused in a special dimension. 26 Yoko McClain27 discusses the nature of the sexual impulse as portrayed in some of Enchi' s works which combine realism and fantasy. McClain comments that for Enchi "the world of love is often something apart from the real world"28 and that 20 Takenishi Hiroko, "Mikoteki na Mono l " Rensai Taidan 11 , "Mikoteki na Mono 2" Rensai Taidan 12, "Mikoteki na Mono 3" Rensai Taidan 13, in Enchi Fumiko Zenshii, 1978. 21 Doris Bargen, A Woman's Weapon: Spirit Possession in The Tale of Genji, 1997. 22 Kamei Hideo and Ogasawara Yoshiko, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, 1981, p. 72. All of the references in this chapter from this work come from the section by Ogasawara. 23 Collins English Dictionary, 1991 defines Eros as "life instinct (in Freudian theory) the group of instincts, especially sexual, that govern acts of self-preservation and that tend towards uninhibited enjoyment of life" (p. 528). 24 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p. 58. 25 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p. 95. 26 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p. 75. 27 Yoko McClain, "Eroticism and the Writings of Enchi Fwniko", Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese 15, no. l (1980) : pp. 32-46. 28 McClain, "Eroticism and the Writings ofEnchi Fumiko", p. 34. 8 "Enchi' s interest is more in the sexual impulse than the act itself'. 29 The mystery of the sexual impulse seems to be attributed to "a certain abstract power"30 in a later novel Saimu (Glowing Fog/ The Mist in Karuizawa, 1975), which is based around an older miko-like figure . In "Nise no En - Shui" ("Love in Two Lives, The Remnant", 1957) the erotic impulse becomes reality. The protagonist, a young widow, is reawakened to her own sex and through her sex comprehends the male sex and life itself. 31 Enchi was searching for the origin of life through sex. In a discussion of Onnamen and "Nisei no En - Shui" Wayne Pounds32 discusses Enchi' s use of the miko. He contends that Enchi ' s calling a spirit which possesses or manipulates another a shamaness or miko is unconventional33 and that she appropriates the image of the miko for the purpose of critique of society by forging an unconventional link between the shamaness and the traditional image of the woman possessed by vindictiveness and jealousy.34 Pounds likens this unusual use of the miko to the function of Tokugawa ghost stories which may have appeared as a reaction to growing state authoritarianism. The supernatural aspect allows an area of freedom where a critique of the repressive state is possible. 35 Pounds maintains that the vengeful spirit of Enchi ' s heritage is "first of all what men have made of women, and the attraction of the supernatural story is in part the opportunity to reclaim suppressed energies from the past, liberating them for use in the present" . 36 However, Enchi herself did not view her shamanistic characters as being solely motivated by shz7nen (obsession) and go (karma). In an interview she said that she did not believe that women were eternally moved by these factors. She preferred her prototypes to be described as mikoteki na mono (shamanistic) and that rather than 29 McClain, "Eroticism and the Writings ofEnchi Fumiko", p. 44. 30 McClain, "Eroticism and the Writings ofEnchi Fumiko", p. 43. 31 McClain, "Eroticism and the Writings ofEnchi Fumiko", p. 76. 32 Wayne Pounds, "Enchi Fumiko and the Hidden Energy of the Supernatural", Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese 24,no.2 (1990): pp. 167-83. 33 Pounds, "Enchi Fumiko and the Hidden Energy of the Supernatural", Note 3, p . 180. 34 Pounds, "Enchi Fumiko and the Hidden Energy of the Supernatural", p. 167. 35 The play "Y otsuya Kaidan" for example, which is performed during Onnazaka, where the ghost of the betrayed wife Oiwa wreaks revenge, has been critiqued as an extreme reaction to the repressed position of women in society. (Pounds, "Enchi Fumiko and the Hidden Energy of the Supernatural", p. 168). 9 shamanism being the phenomenon of a certain age, she thought of it as something more kongentek; (basic, unchanging) in humanity.37 Shamanism is not always related to revenge and lack of fulfilment in Enchi's works. In Namamiko Monogatar; (1965, Tale of a False Shamaness), set in the Heian period, the living spirit of the Empress Teishi leaves her body to possess a false medium who claims that Teishi's spirit is responsible for the illness of Shoshi, daughter of the regent Fujiwara Michinaga and Teishi's rival for the affections of Emperor Ichijo. Faced with no other recourse, Teishi's spirit possesses the medium in order to successfully proclaim her innocence and her love for the emperor.38 Gessel comments that this story illustrates Enchi's view of "the power of women and their love, and the ultimate powerlessness of the male-dominated world of politics" . 39 Sodekawa Hiromi 40 interprets the spiritual power En chi's women develop as the twisted, drastic power the real, hidden self acquires when it is released. Sodekawa asserts that, for Enchi, this power is a hidden part of the inner world of all human beings, and part of essential femininity. It is a kind of spirit force, unresponsive to intellect, morals or common sense, over which woman has no control. The spirit force is awakened and stimulated to take action in the external world when the private self is thoroughly suppressed by the public self, and the desire for self­ expression in the woman reaches a peak. The woman recovers her whole self when she expresses her inner self When a character loses control of her inner self, she possesses a spirit force and this process is associated with the state of spirit possession as experienced by a spiritual medium. Sodekawa divided Enchi' s works into the following three phases: 1. Oppressed women who stoically endure painful lives are portrayed in early works, such as "Himoji Tsukihi" (Days of Hunger, 1953) and Onnazaka (1956); 2. Mysterious women realise their hidden real selves by employing their mediumistic abilities in 36 Pounds, "Enchi Fumiko and the Hidden Energy of the Supernatural", p. 179-180. 37 Takenishi, "Mikoteki na Mono 3", p. 4. 38 Hulvey, "The Interte"'1ual Fabric of Narratives by Enchi Fumiko", p. 177. 39 Van C. Gessel, "Echoes of Feminine Sensibility in Literature", Japan Quarterly 35, no.4 (1988): p. 413. 40 Sodekawa Hiromi, "Enchi Fumiko: A Study in the Self-expression of Women", 1988. 10 works such as "Yo" (1956), "Nise no En - Shui" (1957), Onnamen (1958), Hanachirusato (1957), Namamiko Monogatari (1965) and "Komachi Hense" (Transformation of Komachi, 1965). Stories in this phase generally show a knowledge of and inclination towards the classics, especially The Tale of Genji, Edo fiction and kabuki; 3. In later works elderly women facing death, loneliness and despair struggle to express their femininity by using supernatural powers. Stories of this phase include the Yukon trilogy ( 1969-1970), Saimu ( 1975-1976), and Kikujido (The Chrysanthemum Child, 1982-1983).4 1 Sodekawa concludes that the self­ liberation, or the release of the hidden self, of the suppressed woman/vengeful woman, lovable woman and elderly woman facing aging and death is more or less connected with their mediumistic ability which, " in Enchi 's view constitutes the essential quality of femininity, the unity of spirit force and Eros", and that the fantasies, dreams and salvations of Enchi ' s heroines are all connected with the world of The Tale of Genji.42 S. Yumiko Hulvey, similarly to Sodekawa, posits three phases in Enchi 's development of the theme of miko as "a vehicle to explore realms of empowerment for women in alternate worlds created in fiction".43 The first stage includes works such as Onnazaka ( 1956), "Otoko no Hone" ( 1956, translated into English as " Skeletons of Men" in 1988), "Yo" (1956) and "Nise no En- Shui" (1957). Hulvey claims that Enchi ' s women in these works endure lives of subjugation and oppression in the patriarchal society with "the theme of miko discernible only in germinal form".44 As in Sodekawa' s second phase, the women in Hulvey's second stage are mysterious middle-aged women who tap inner sources of strength through the shamanistic powers of the miko. Hulvey includes Onnamen (1958), Namamiko Monogatari ( 1965) and "Kesha" (Metamorphosis, 1962) in this stage. In the third stage, similarly to Sodekawa' s, elderly women "hover between illusion and reality in their endeavor to explore the nature of sexual desire". This stage includes the Yukon 4 1 Sodekawa . .. Enchi Fumiko", p. 7. 42 Sodekawa, "Enchi Fwniko", p. 124. 43 Hulvey, "The Interte>..1ual Fabric of Narratives by Enchi Fumiko", p. 171. 44 Hulvey. "The Interte>..1ual Fabric of Narratives by Enchi Fumiko'', p. 172. 11 trilogy (1969-1970), "Hana Kui Uba" (1974, translated into English as "The Flower Eating Crone" in 1997) and Saimu (1975-1976).45 Finally, two works have proved particularly valuable in assisting in the interpretation of shamanistic elements in Onnamen. Doris Bargen46 has written a comprehensive and thought provoking analysis of the triangular no-like structures and symbols in Onnamen, which attempts to discover the hidden meanings behind the text . The no drama contains many elements of shamanism, and motifs from the no provide a consistent motif in Onnamen. Bettina Knapp47 provides a Jungian analysis of Onnamen. The fact that Enchi developed shamanistic supernatural powers in some of her characters to empower them to gain a form of revenge against the dominant male and to enable them to express their sexuality and their repressed selves is thus well documented by critics, including Enchi herself In Enchi ' s works the latent shamanistic powers of the miko can be tapped by certain women in certain situations. This thesis aims to enhance the existing body of analytical literature and to increase understanding of Enchi ' s works by detailed analysis and interpretation of the way in which the author incorporated elements of shamanism and spirit possession into the four texts, drawing on the miko of myth, history and the present day. Structure of the Thesis The thesis takes the following shape. Chapter One provides a biographical outline of Enchi ' s life and the influences on her writing, themes and style. Chapter Two "Shamanism, Spirit Possession and Japanese Women' s Power" is an overview of the nature of the miko, shamaness or medium, in Japanese history and prehistory. Chapter Three is an analysis of the shamanistic elements of the female characters 45 Hulvey, "The Intertextual Fabric of Narratives by Enchi Fumiko", p. 172. 46 Doris Bargen, "Twin Blossoms on a Single Branch: The Cycle of Retribution in Onnamen", Monumentica Nipponica 46, no. 2 (1991): pp. 147-71. 47 Bettina Knapp, "Fumiko Enchi ' s M asks: A Sacred Mystery", in Women in Twentieth Century Literature: A Jungian View, 1987, pp. 183-207. 12 discerned in Onnazaka. Chapter Four provides an analysis of the ·shamanistic aspects relating to Chigako in "Yo" and Takiko in "Mimiyoraku". Chapter Five analyses and interprets the shamanistic elements in Onnamen. The Conclusion provides a summary of the major findings of the thesis. The Conclusion will demonstrate how this research has enhanced our understanding of the use of the miko by Enchi Fumiko as a literary device. 13 CHAPTER ONE Enchi Fumiko: Her Life and Writing Enchi Fumiko was born Ueda Fumi in Asakusa, Tokyo, on October 2, 1905, the third and youngest child of Ueda Kazutoshi (also known as Mannen) and his wife Tsuruko (nee Murakami). Ueda Kazutoshi was a Tokyo University linguistics professor who had studied with Basil Hall Chamberlain during the latter's tenure as Professor of Japanese at the same university. Ueda became famous for his theory of archaic phonetics as well as other publications. As his daughter Enchi grew up in a wealthy, privileged household. She was very close to her father and wrote of their relationship "Until I was about 20 my father was like the sun, living inside me" .1 Enchi grew up as a precocious literary child. Her leaning towards literature was greatly influenced by her paternal grandmother Ine who lived with her son and his family. Ine, born into the Edo samurai class, told the little girl a vast variety of stories "from ghost tales and romances to Confucius ' Analects"2 . She introduced Enchi to late Edo literature and recited lines from kabuki and joruri (ballad-dramas) to her from memory. Attending kabuki performances with her family even as a small child, Enc hi grew up with a great love of the theatre and the worlds it created. The seeds of the special literary world she would create were sown during these years in the mixture of Edo ghost stories, legends, kabuki, joruri, ukiyo-e, etc.3 A sickly child, who was frequently away from school, Enchi immersed herself in reading books from her father's vast library including late Edo gesaku (popular fiction) and novels in contemporary magazines. At the age of just ten she began to read Murasaki Shikibu's Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji). In her early teens Enchi was drawn to the works of the Japanese writers Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, Nagai Kafii, Izumi Kyoka and Akutagawa Ryl1nosuke as well as works by Western writers such as Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allen Poe4 , all of whom sometimes dealt with eerie supernatural themes. 1 Quoted in Juliet Winters Carpenter, "Enchi Fumiko: ' A Writer of Tales' ", p. 344. 2 Carpenter, "Enchi Fumiko: 'A Writer of Tales'", p. 345. 3 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p. 108. 4 Yoko McClain, "Enchi Fumiko" in Encyclopedia o/World Literature, Volume 2, ed. L.S. Klein, p. 31. 14 After attending a grade school affiliated with the Tokyo Otsuka Normal High School, Enchi attended the Women's High School, an affiliate of the Japan Women's University. She continued to immerse herself in reading, including stories by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, the plays of Goldsworthy and Hauptmann and works by Irish writers such as Yeats . Disillusioned by the teaching at the high school and supported by her indulgent father Enchi left school at the age of seventeen, a year before she was due to graduate. From then until her marriage in 1930 she studied at home: English and the Bible with a British Catholic missionary and French and classical Chinese with private tutors. During this period Enchi' s interest in plays increased and she decided to become a playwright. She commuted to the Ueno Library to read Western plays in translation and attended kabuki and other plays with even greater passion. In 1927 Enchi ' s play Furusato (Hometown) was published and won a prize. Enchi became the only woman to attend lectures by Osanai Kaoru, a leading force in the shingeki (modern drama-theatre) movement and was one of the first women to have three successful plays staged at his Tsukiji Little Theatre.5 Enchi, whose plays were praised for their fine construction and psychological insight, thus achieved critical acclaim as a playwright at an early age. The shingeki movement attempted to turn away from the traditional, stylised world of kabuki and no to create a modern form of theatre based on that of the West.6 This theatre played a central role in the development of modern Japanese theatre and was also associated with leftist politics. 7 Sadly, however, Osanai died of a heart attack in 1928 at a celebratory banquet after the performance of Enchi' s play Banshun Soya (A Turbulent Night in Late Spring). Subsequently, the Little Theatre broke up. In 1928 Enchi contributed to the magazine Nyonin Geijutsu (Women's Arts) as its leading female dramatist. Through this participation she became acquainted with important women writers of the proletarian movement, including Hirabayashi Taiko, 5 S. Yumiko Hulvey, "Enchi Fwniko" in Japanese Women Writers: A Bio-critical Source Book, ed. C. Mulhern, p. 41. 6 Carpenter, "Enchi Fumiko: 'A Writer of Tales'", p. 347. 15 who remained a life-long friend, and Hayashi Fumiko. In the same year she met and began an affair with Kataoka Teppei, a writer actively involved in the proletarian movement, who was married with children. The relationship was brought to a halt by Kataoka' s arrest in 1930. Enchi ' s play Banshun Soya conveys her ambivalence towards the proletarian movement. It tells the story of two women: Hiroko who throws herself into the proletarian movement with her lover and Kayoko, an artist, who is at first envious but then holds back from active participation herself, sensing in Hiroko "junkyosha nioi hokori no kage"8 (the shadow of the pride and smell of a martyr). Like Kayoko, Enchi felt she could not throw away her own past and tradition so easily.9 Enchi, however, interpreted her own acknowledgement and understanding of her actions in not participating actively in the proletarian movement as a lack of passion. 10 This view would affect her concept of herself and the direction of her future writing. However, for Enchi who already harboured a distrust in society, fuelled by the feudal period moral outlook described in the world of her grandmother's stories, her ·'shakaishugiteki na senrei ··(socialistic baptism) helped her gain an understanding of the concept of ' society' in relation to humanity. 11 In 1930 Enchi married Enchi Yoshimatsu, a journalist ten years her senior, who worked for the Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun. She saw marriage as a way of distancing herself from the proletarian movement, whose adherents were being persecuted by the government, and as a means of protecting her father's reputation. Enchi also saw marriage as a means of leaving the loving but stifling environnment of her parents' home. However, Enchi ' s calculated choice of marriage proved to be a grave mistake. The marriage was an unhappy one although it continued until Yoshimatsu' s death in 1972. Not only was there a great gulf between the personalities and backgrounds of husband and wife but Yoshimatsu was an onnazuki (an admirer of women) who did not restrict his affairs to geishas but had relationships with ordinary women much to 7 Carpenter, "Enchi Fumiko: ' A Writer of Tales'". p. 347. 8 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p. 15. 9 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p. 16. 10 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p.15. 11 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, pp. 18-20. 16 Enchi' s chagrin. 12 Enchi had married with the understanding that she be allowed to continue her writing. Y oshimatsu however felt that wives ought not to work. 13 A daughter Motoko was born in 1932. Overwhelmed by the reality of married life Enchi wrote only two works in the first three years of her marriage. She later wrote: "The only reason I never divorced my husband was that I lacked the courage to make the leap and live on my own." 14 Once again she saw herself as having insufficient passion to initiate action. 15 Many of Enchi's works depict unhappy marriages between callous womanising husbands and wives who endure behind submissive masks. In the 1930s Enchi determined to change course from writing plays to fiction. Although her book of collected plays Seishun (Passionate Spring) was favourably received in 1935, she was already finding the play, which did not allow her to express the psychological complexity of her characters as she wished, too restrictive as a medium. 16 It was also becoming more difficult for playwrights to have their works performed. After Kataoka' s release from prison in 193 5 they continued their relationship and he introduced her to the group of novelists known as Nichireld. Enchi endeavoured to study the art of short story writing through the group and learned a great deal from her friend and mentor Hirabayashi Taiko. In 1937 Enchi ' s father, the person who had understood her best and been her psychological support, died. Enchi immersed herself in writing and had short stories published in various journals. However she was still in the process of learning the craft of short story writing and her pre-war short stories have been criticised as immature. 17 In 193 8 at the age of 3 3 Enchi suffered from breast cancer. Recovering from a mastectomy operation she caught tuberculosis which she fought for half a year. At this point she permanently broke off with Kataoka when he did not come to visit her in hospital. Enchi continued to write short stories during this period. Her writing was moving from complexity to purity of form and the impression of immaturity l'.? Fuke Motoko, Haha Enchi Fumiko, p.24. 13 Carpenter, "Enchi Fumiko: ' A Writer of Tales'", p. 348. 14 Quoted in Carpenter, "Enchi Fumiko: ' A Writer of Tales'", p. 348. 15 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p. 21. 16 Yoko McClain, "Eroticism and the Writings of Enchi Fumiko", p. 31. 17 receded.18 Many of her works used material from the classics such as Hanagata, published in 1942, the story of a man brutally branded on the face, based on an incident from Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike, c. fourteenth century). In 1941 Enchi went to South China and Hainan Island as a member of the Kaigun Bungei Imondan (Naval Consolation Literary Group) . On her return she wrote Kiko (A Travelogue) and Zuisoshii (Occasional Thoughts). 1943-1948 was however a lean period for Enchi. Most avenues for publication closed during the war. Enchi had difficulty getting her work published and wrote stories for girls to assist the family's finances. In 1945 Enchi ' s home in Tokyo was bombed and she lost everything - her family goods and her book collection. She moved to the family villa at Karuizawa with her mother for a year. This gave Enchi a chance to become closer to her mother, to help define her own identity as a woman and to learn the stories of her mother' s Ky[ishu family. Enchi ' s maternal grandmother Kin who lived with her despotic husband in a household including two concubines was the model for Torno in Onnazaka (The WaWng Years) . After her return to Tokyo the following year Enchi suffered from uterine cancer and, after a hysterectomy in 1946 at the age of 41 , she lay close to death with pneumonia. She was unwell for nearly two years. This event had a deep effect on Enchi ' s attitudes and on her writing. Many of her subsequent works portray aging or sexually disabled women who hunger for sex and for life . Enchi commented that she became bold concerning sex after her life was saved by the operation and that from her time in hospital she threw away her pride and shame as a woman. 19 McClain comments that after her operation Enchi feared the possibility of losing her sexual desire and with it the will to live.20 Enchi described two types of women writers who deal with sex from a woman's point of view since Japanese women became liberated from sexual taboos after the Second World War: authors who write 17 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p. 25. 18 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p. 28. 19 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai, p. 74. 20 McClain, "Eroticism and the Writings ofEnchi Fumiko", p. 33. 18 about sex because of deep-seated inner needs, and those who write for the entertainment of readers. McClain maintains that Enchi belongs to the first group.21 After the war Enchi became acquainted with Tanizaki Jun' ichiro when she dramatized his work Bushuko Hiwa ("The Secret Tale of the Lord of Musashi") and they remained friends until Tanizaki's death in 1965.22 Enchi readily acknowledged that Tanizaki had a great influence on her work. She had begun reading his works as a girl and continued to read them throughout her life. The sensuality, the physical beauty of women and the searching for truth amidst suffering depicted in his works had a great influence on her.23 Although other writers such as Hirabayashi Taiko successfully had work published directly after the war, Enchi continued to have difficulties getting work published until the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1953 she finally received critical acclaim for her fictional writing with her short story "Himoji Tsukihi" (Days of Hunger) for which she was awarded the sixth Woman Writer' s Prize. In this story the main character Saku is trapped in a miserable marriage with a boorish womanising husband. When her aging husband is debilitated Saku must nurse and clean him. When her son suggests they kill his father however Saku is appalled and from this time on is able to care for him with compassion despite his coarse and bestial nature.24 Saku dies before her husband but just before her death she experiences a vision of great beauty and joy. The 1950s was the period of Enchi' s most prolific production of novels and short stories. In 1952 the first installment of Onnazaka (The Waiting Years) was published. This work took Enchi eight years to write and was printed as a book in late 1957. "Yo" ("Enchantress") and "Otoko no Hone" ("Skeletons of Men", translated into English in 1988) were published in 1956; "Mimiyoraku" (The Earring) and "Nise no En: Shui" (translated into English as 'Love in Two Lives: The Remnant' and ' Two Lifetimes - Gleanings ' in 1983) were published in 1957. In 1958 Onnamen (Masks) 21 McClain, "Eroticism and the Writings ofEnchi Fumiko", p. 33. 22 Fuke, Haha Enchi Fumiko, p. 109. 23 Kurnasaka Atsuko, "lntabyii: Enchi-shi ni Kiku", pp. 27-28. 19 was published. The same year, under the sponsorship of the Asia Foundation, Enchi travelled in the United States and Europe for three months with Hirabayashi Taiko. On her return to Japan she wrote a travelogue Obei no Tabi (Travels in the West) and a short story called "Shikago no Hito" (A Chicagoan). She returned to Europe again in 1965 with Hirabayashi. Enchi, who gained distinction as a dramatist, a novelist and short story writer, and as a classical scholar, received many awards and honours during her long life. In 1957 Onnazaka won the Noma Literary Prize together with Uno Chiyo's Ohan. In 1958 Enchi took up the presidency of the Women' s Literature Association for the first time and frequently filled this role over the next twenty years. In 1967 she received the fifth Women's Literature prize for Namamiko Monogatari (Tale of a False Shamaness). In 1967 Enchi was invited to translate Genji Monogatari into modern Japanese by the publishing company Shinch6sha. This took six years to complete. During the translation Enchi suffered major health setbacks, including two detached retinas from which her eyesight never fully recovered. This great achievement involved a weaving together of Enchi ' s various strengths: "her lifelong love of the classics and of Genji in particular; her understanding of the female psyche, and of female sexuality; her ability to bridge the gap between the Heian and the modem feminine psychic world" .25 In 1969 Enchi was awarded the fifth Tanizaki Prize for her semi-autobiographical trilogy Ake o Ubau Mono (That Which Steals Red, 1956), Kfru Aru Tsubasa (Wounded Wing, 1962) and Niji to Shura (The Rainbow and Carnage, 1968). In 1970 she was selected as a member of the Academy of Art . In 1970 Enchi gave a series of summer lectures on Japanese women's literature at the University of Hawaii. In 1972 she received the Grand Prize of Japanese Literature for Yukon (Wandering Spirit). In 1985 Enchi received postwar Japan' s highest award, the Order of Culture. Enchi' s fascination with possessing spirits may have begun with her reading of Genji Monogatari when she was fascinated by the fact that the Rokujo lady's spirit possessed other women and felt a special interest in the situation that occurs when a 24 Carpenter, "Enchi Fwniko: ' A Writer of Tales''', p. 350. 20 suppressed will rises. 26 After the success of Onnazaka Enchi felt free to write what she wished without worrying about how her work would be received by the readers. 27 Works depicting suppressed women with shamanistic abilities appear from this time. Mieko's essay "Nonomiyaki" in Onnamen shows Enchi's fascination with, and extensive knowledge about, the miko and shamanism. She read Nihon Fujo Shi (History of the Japanese Shamaness) with great interest. 28 Enchi saw the profession of writing itself as having a spirit possessing effect (hyorei sayo)29 . Through the process of writing, which is an unveiling of the ego, something which is of oneself becomes something not of oneself and through this process something inside the writer melts. Enchi stated that she was driven to write through psychological hunger and commented that if everyday life satisfied, there would be no need to write. 30 Not belonging to the ' action clique' (kodo ha) she was filled with curiosity and unfulfilled desires which gave her a longing for the shamanistic.31 Similarly, Enchi saw Japanese women who experienced life in the repressive Japanese society before the defeat of Japan at the end of the Second World War as possessing elements of kamigakari (being possessed by gods or spirits) 32 Enchi continued to develop the portrayal of shamanistic abilities in the elderly women she depicted in later works. In Yukon (Wandering Spirit), the spirit of the elderly heroine Suo wanders as did the spirit of the Rokujo lady, not, however, out of jealousy or spite, but on erotic missions. Enchi wrote: I have no understanding of existentialism or mysticism, but for the past several years I have started forming the supposition that my other self and my partner' s other self exist outside our own bodies . . . Yukon is my experiment to make this supposition into a literary work. 33 25 Carpenter, "Enchi Fwniko: 'A Writer of Tales ' '', p. 355. 26 Takenishi Hiroko, "Mikoteki na Mono 3", pp. 3-4. 27 Kumasaka, "Intabyli: Enchi Fumiko ni Kiku'', p. 36. 28 Takenishi, "Mikoteki na Mono I", pp. 2-3. Enchi is probably referring to Ni hon Fujo Shi by Nakayama Taro, mentioned by Hori Ichiro in "Shamanism in Japan", p. 279. 29 Takenishi, "Mikoteki na Mono 3", p. 1. 30 Takenishi, "Mikoteki na Mono 3", p. 2. 31 Takenishi, "Mikoteki na Mono 3", p. 3. 32 Takenishi, "Mikoteki na Mono 2'', p. 3. 33 McClain, "Eroticism and the Writings of Enchi Fumiko'', p. 40. 21 The motif of Saimu (Glowing Fog) written in 1975 is based on Enchi's interest in and research on the miko as the shamanistic holy maiden in the service of a shrine. 34 In 1972 Enchi lost three people who had been close to her - her two friends, Hirabayashi Taiko and Tsuda Setsuko, and her husband Yoshimatsu. She wept at the death of her estranged husband. As Ogasawara comments, marriage had been the biggest influence on Enchi' s life and literature.35 Many of Enchi's works from this time on, such as Neko no Soshi (The Cat Storybook, 1974), deal with the loneliness and isolation of characters living through old age and confronted by death. In addition to her many fictional works Enchi produced a great amount of non­ fictional work which showed the depth of her scholarship and her familiarity with contemporary Japanese literature, Japanese classics and the theatre. These works include critical writing such as eulogies for Hirabayashi Taiko, reminiscences about Kawabata Yasunari and scholarly articles on Genji Monogatari and women writers of the Heian period. Throughout her life she wrote translations, introductions and commentaries on the Japanese classics, including Heian classics such as Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) and Kagero Nikki (The Gossamer Years) , medieval tales such as Gikei/d (The Yoshitsune Chronicle) and Soga Monogatari (The Tale of the Soga), Edo period masterpieces such as Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain) and Harusame Monogatari (Tales of Spring Rain), and selected pieces of no,joruri and kabuki plays.36 Immersed in the world of literature and plays from childhood, Enchi found in the writing to which she devoted her life a means of transcending and transforming the tribulations of her life - her marriage and illnesses and the infirmities and fears of old age. Drawing on the threads of Edo literature, of kabuki and other forms of theatre, of contemporary Japanese and Western literature and of the classics, Enchi created her own literary world in which she transformed and retold her own stories and the 34 McClain, "Eroticism and the Writings ofEnchi Fumiko", p. 42. 35 Kamei and Ogasawara, Enchi Fumiko no Sekai. p. 101. 36 Hulvey, "Enchi Fwniko", p. 46. 22 stories of other women whose lives are frequently transformed through shamanistic ability. CHAPTER TWO Shamanism, Spirit Possession and Japanese Women's Power 23 This chapter provides a background to the nature and history of Japanese female shamanism and spirit possession on which Enchi drew for her stories. It attempts to outline the changing role of the Japanese shamaness and medium over time. The chapter thus provides a basis for the subsequent analysis ofEnchi's use of aspects of shamanism and spirit possession in the works selected for study. Throughout history and prehistory Japanese women have shown a tendency to become kamigakari - divinely inspired, or possessed by gods and spirits. The Japanese shamaness was an important and powerful figure religiously and politically in pre-Buddhist Japan. Archaeology provides glimpses of her nature and function. Passages in the eighth century Kojiki and Nihongi describe shamanistic women rulers. The myths and legends contained in these texts as well as stories in oral fo lk traditions provide insights into the power and pervasiveness of the figure of the shamaness. However, with the introduction of Buddhism in the sixth century and the development and implementation of the Chinese based ritsuryo legal system in the seventh and eighth centuries the power of the centrally based miko (shamaness) began to decline. In the Heian period (794-1185) she lost her governmental function and was relegated either to Shinto shrines or to becoming an arukimiko (itinerant miko), wandering from village to village, serving the needs of the people. In the increasingly patriarchal society of the Heian court, the centre of political control, woman 's ability to become divinely inspired was reduced to the role of a medium for exorcism during spirit possession. Buddhism adopted some aspects of shamanism but it was now the male who played the dominant role. The an1kimiko, whose role often incorporated prostitution, played a significant role in the popular folk religion, summoning deities and spirits of the dead and attending to the needs of the populace until recent times. However, policies of the Meiji 24 government ( 1868-1912) hastened the decline of the role of the folk shamaness. The decline has continued within modern urban society although women exhibiting aspects of the role of the ancient miko still exist in parts of Japan. More strikingly the figure of the shamaness as a charismatic mikogami (living goddess) has also returned in recent times in the form of the foundresses of some of the New Religions such as Nakayama Miki (1798-1887), the founder of the Tenrikyo faith, and Kitamura Sayo (1900-1967), founder of the Tensho Kotai Jingu Kyo. Shamanism and Spirit Possession Hori lchiro, a leading scholar on Japanese shamanism, taking his lead from Mircea Eliade' s synthesis of shaman research, defines shamanism as: the general name given that magical, mystical, often esoteric phenomenon that has taken shape around the shaman, a person of unusual personality who has mastered archaic techniques of ecstasy (trance, rapture, separation of the soul from the body, etc.)1 Shamanism, which is generally found coexistent with other forms of magic and religion, has been studied in many parts of the world including Siberia, Central Asia, North America, Indonesia, Oceania, and Japan. The central shamanistic act is the ecstatic trance by means of which the shaman acts as a mediator between the human world and the world of the spirits. The shaman2 thus serves her community. I.M. Lewis views shamanism as an attempt by a community to enrich its spiritual armoury in a world beset by chronic environmental uncertainty or rapid and inexplicable environmental change. He states that shamanism asserts dramatically that the gods are not only with humans but in them. In a central possession religion such as existed in Japan in pre-Buddhist times the establishment shamans, who are attempting to deal with acute pressures external to their society such as natural disasters and 1 Hori lchiro, .. Shamanism in Japan·', p. 245. 2 The tenn 'shaman' as used here includes both male and female shamans. 25 epidemics, treat the powers which control the cosmos as equal.3 The shaman is thus a symbol of independence and hope working for the good of the community. Mircea Eliade distinguishes the shaman as an ecstatic who "specializes in a trance during which his soul is believed to leave his body and ascend to the sky or descend to the underworld". 4 Moreover Eliade claims that the shaman controls her spirits, being able to communicate with the dead, "demons", and "nature spirits" without becoming their instrument. 5 Nevill Drury distinguishes between shamanism and mediumism. While both involve trance states he considers, like Eliade, that shamanism involves an active going forth of the spirit. Whereas the shaman is fully conscious of her altered state and has responsibility for what occurs on her visionary journey, the medium has a passive function during the coming in of the divine force and does not recall her visionary episodes.6 For other scholars however the defining feature of shamanism is the controlled trance. In an analysis of the study of shamanism in forty-two societies, Peters and Price-Williams found that the universal defining factor was the shaman' s control of her trance.7 Lewis compares 'uncontrolled ' and 'controlled ' possession and concludes that all shamans are mediums. The shaman incarnates spirits, becoming possessed voluntarily in controlled circumstances. All mediums, however, are not shamans although some may graduate to become controllers of spirits. 8 William Fairchild states that shamanism is "an institutionalized, fixed-ritual bound ecstatic contact with transcendental beings in order to perform a social function. It is not a religion, but is a religious phenomenon which fits in different religions."9 The ecstatic experience involves a transformation into another personality. Fairchild asserts that the ecstasy may be either migratory, involving contact outside of the 3 I. M . Lewis. Ecstatic Religion: An Anthropological Study of Spirit Possession and Shamanism, p. 176. 4 Mircea Eliade. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, p. 5. 5 Eliade. Shamanism, p. 6. 6 Nevill Drury, The Elements of Shamanism. p. 11. 1 Discussed in Takiguchi Naoko, "Miyako Shamanism: Shamans. Clients and Their Interactions", p. 82. 8 Lewis. Ecstatic Religion. pp. 51-57. 9 William P. Fairchild, "Shamanism in Japan", p. 2. 26 body, or possessive whereby transcendental beings enter the body. Therefore in his view there are two basic types of shamans: migrating and possessed. 10 In her ma3or study on Japanese shamanism Carmen Blacker maintains that the faculty of trance is central to the shaman's powers. The shaman can alter her consciousness at will in order to communicate with the inhabitants of the spiritual world. Blacker views both the medium and the ascetic as shamans.11 Doris Bargen, in a discussion of the difference between shamanism, which she states was prevalent in pre-Buddhist Japan, and spirit possession, which became a complex form of interaction with the spirit world during the Heian period, emphasises the difference between the role of the shaman and the roles of the exorcist and medium. Whilst the shaman traditionally summons spirits into herself for the benefit of the tribe or community, the exorcist and medium work together to expel evil spirits from possessed persons. 12 Thus while definitions may vary as to the exact nature of the shamanism and spirit possession, the essential feature of both is the trance whereby a bridge is formed between this world and the other supernatural or spirit world . The Dictionary of Psychology defines trance as "a state in which consciousness is fragile or missing, voluntary action is poor or absent and normal bodily functions are reduced, perhaps to the degree that the individual appears to be in a deep sleep."13 During a shamanistic trance the personality of the shaman, medium or possessed person is replaced by the personality of the possessing spirit. The spirit is made flesh. 14 Thus the shaman is able to behave as both a god and a human. Future shamans undergo a process that begins with a crisis, often an illness, which can be either mental or physical. The illness is often understood to be the call of the spirits who cure the future shaman when she accepts initiation. Other events which may be thought to reveal such a call are "surviving an unusual accident, the death of 1° Fairchild, "Shamanism in Japan'', p. 2 .. 11 Cannen Blacker, The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practice in Japan, p.26. 12 Doris Bargen. A Woman's Weapon: Spirit Possession in The Tale of Genji, p. 11. 13 Penguin Dictionary of Psychology, p. 805. 27 the shaman's child, undergoing an ordeal, strange and dramatic occurrences, or powerful and terrifying dreams"15 During initiation the future shaman typically experiences a period of suffering during which her body is invaded as a vehicle for the spirit. 16 Shamans are "believed to die to their past life and become new, confident persons empowered by a powerful guardian spirit" 17 The shaman's separation from ordinary life is often further marked by a transition rite similar to marriage, which establishes a stable and dominant relationship between the shaman and the spirit/s.18 The trance often has an erotic, sexual nature. Ecstatic possession seizures are frequently interpreted as acts of mystical sexual intercourse between the subject and her possessing spirit. 19 Shamans enter their altered state of consciousness in various ways such as through drumming, dancing, or singing or by ascetic practices such as fasting, going without sleep, and meditation. Imbibing mind-altering substances may be involved. Many shamans who are healers have a deep knowledge of pharmacology. 20 Much has been written this century about whether shamanistic behaviour is manifested by mentally ill or sane individuals. Jane Atkinson notes that recent scholarship maintains that the shifts in psychological states exhibited are within the behavioural range of normal human beings although some suggest that shamans are likely to be "fantasy-prone" individuals. 21 Spirit possession, unlike shamanism, does not necessarily lead to the development of a powerful relationship with the spirit world. Lewis maintains, however, that possession generally expresses an aggressive self-assertion.22 Possession may occur in individuals belonging to oppressed groups or in peripheral cults. In such cases the 14Lewis, Ecstatic Religion, pp. 203-204. 15 An Anthology of Sacred Texts by and about Women, ed. Serinity Young, p. 216. 16 In some of Enchi ' s stories, a period of shamanistic seizures or trance-like states are preceded by a p;riod of intense suffering or a traumatic event in the lives of her characters. 7 An Anthology of Sacred Texts. ed. Young, p. 216. 18 Lewis. Ecstatic Religion, pp. 189-190. 19 Lewis, Ecstatic Religion, p. 58. 20 An Anthology of Sacred Texts, ed. Young, p. 216. 21 Jane Mannig Atkinson, "Shamanisms Today", p. 309. 28 pressure being exerted on the individual, which is revealed during possession, comes from within the society. Lewis describes instances of spirit possession among Moslem women in African tribes that have strongly patrilineal polygynal societies in which the women have little stability or security. Two cultures exist: the dominant world of men and the subordinate sphere of women. With no other means available for rebelling against suppression of the self, spirit possession may aid women to air their grievances obliquely and gain some satisfaction for neglect and injury. For example, among the Somali a woman' s ailment may be interpreted by a female shaman as possession by a sar spirit, which demands material goods and luxuries from the husband.23 The cult of amoral natural spirits led by possessed women in Burma complements the official Buddhist religion which is dominated by men and permits women to advance and protect their interests .24 In such examples women are overcome involuntarily by arbitrary afflictions for which they cannot be held accountable. This situation enables them to protest indirectly against their oppressors without fear of retribution. The Pre-Buddhist Shamaness In ancient Shinto, the indigenous Japanese religion which had its roots in the tradition of an agrarian society, women were thought to have a special power with which to communicate with the divine. In the earliest written records concerning Japan, the Wei Chih (History of the Wei Kingdom, c.297 AD), which covers the period 220AD - 265AD, a Chinese chronicler wrote that the Japanese "have profound faith in shamans, both male and female". 25 However, the leading role in Japanese shamanism has been played by women. Hori states that the general term in Japanese for a shamanistic figure is miko with the explicit meaning of 'a shamaness' whereas there is no special term for a male shaman. 26 Sakurai T okutaro notes that the Nihongi and other documents such as the Zokunihongi provide evidence that it was :?:? Lewis, Ecstatic Religion, p.203. 23 Lewis, Ecstatic Religion, pp. 75-82. 24 Lewis, Ecstatic Religion, p.85. 25 Quoted in Joseph M. Kitagawa, Religion in Japanese History, p. 20. 26 Hori Ichiro, Folk Religion in Japan: Continuity and Change, p. 181. 29 women religious functionaries who originally held the role of those serving the gods.27 The miko or Japanese shamaness is of Fairchild's 'possessed' shamanism type. Sakurai states that miko ( &32: ) which can also be written with the characters &T- and *'-T is a general name for women possessing a magical religious quality who are divinely inspired and act as oracles to convey the will of the divine spirits. 28 There are various theories for the derivation of the word miko. Sakurai states that it is probably either an abbreviation of *'T- (kamiko, kaminko), those who had the miraculous ability to be possessed by divine spirits, or it is derived from the honorary title 1JEIJ-T (miko) which indicates a person or child of high ranking birth with amazing spiritual powers.29 Yanagita suggests that the word miko comes from 1JEIJT-~ (mikogami), meaning "child of the kami [god]"30 . Ancient miko were possessed by, and related the oracles of, kami, the principal objects of worship in Shinto since pre-Buddhist times. Blacker notes that kami are essentially amoral and manifest benign or destructive influences in the human world depending on the treatment they receive.31 Hori distinguishes two systems within Shinto: the uji-gami (tutelary or guardian shrine system), based on the family or clan system, and the hito-gami (man-god) system, based on the close relationship of a kami with a religious specialist. Charismatic, shamanistic leaders such as Queen Himiko32 and their descendants entered into a special relationship with their hito­ gami and built up a kind of uji-gami system independently during the period of small-scale united kingdoms that existed before centralisation.33 As Hori notes, according to the hito-gami type of religion kami may take the form of charismatic human beings. 34 These shamanistic rulers were thus imbued with a divine power. 27 Sakurai Tokutar6, "Miko" in Kokushi Daijiten vol. 13 , p. 307. 28 Sakurai, "Mil