In Okinawa exists the so-called onarigami-belief, which main concept is the idea of a sister who possesses spiritual power to protect her brother – this belief is seen as the core of the Okinawan religion. It is customary for the sister to give her brother, who is departing for a journey, a hand-woven fabric called tisaji. The sister also plays a main role in agricutural rites at her brother’s house, and it was believed that the sister’s deep involvement in these rites resulted in a rich and fruitful harvest. It can be assumed that with this onarigami-belief as a foundation, a system developed, in which women have held the main religious roles at every level: the familiy, the kinship group, and the state in the Kingdom times. In this presentation, I want to discuss various aspects of the onarigami-belief as the core of Okinawan religion, from a gender perspective.
As a first point, I will deal with the issue of definig the spiritual authority of women. This spiritual authority is used mainly in favour of men. Therefore, if the women’s spiritual authority is not used for their own aims and activities, or in resistance towards men, the concept of “spiritual superiority of women” does not seem appropriate. I want to focus on this issue by introducing references from literature as well as folklore.
As a second point, I want to bring attention to the family structure developing from the onarigami-belief. In the typical Okinawan family, it is common for the bride to move into the house of her husband’s family, the conjugal family represents a social as well as an economic unit. The onarigami-belief, which is emphasizing the harmony between brothers and sisters, has an aspect which can cause conflict concerning the married couple’s relationship. Various proverbs and folk tales include the message that the wife exerts a negative influence over her husband ,while the sister has protective power as onarigami.
In Hateruma, it is said as following:
Sisters who are already married keep visiting their natal homes, which is the house of their brothers, very often, in some cases every day. …Their impulse to return to their home is very strong, and therefore, sisters are often scolded that they are more loyal to their natal house than to the family of their husbands.
Concerning the membership of the grave after death, it is common in the present that women are buried together with their husbands, but there are also sources which imply that it was common for women to be buried in their natal family’s graves.
As a third point, I want to take upon issues of the involvement of the Okinawan shaman or yuta. The Okinawan family and kinship group is organized according to a patrilineal system, and the supporter of this system is the yuta. Most of the yuta are women, and I want to focus on problems concerning the times when they acted as ideologues of the patrilineal system.
