Miko

A miko (巫女), or shrine maiden, is a young priestess who works at a Shinto shrine. Miko were once likely seen as shamans, but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily life, trained to perform tasks ranging from sacred cleansing to performing the sacred Kagura dance.

The traditional attire of a miko is a pair of red hakama (緋袴) (divided, pleated trousers), a white kosode (a predecessor of the kimono), and some white or red hair ribbons. In Shinto, the color white symbolizes purity.^{[citation needed]} The garment put over the kosode during Kagura dances is called a chihaya (千早).

Traditional miko tools include the Azusa Yumi (梓弓, "catalpa bow"), the tamagushi (玉串) (offertory sakaki-tree branches), and the gehōbako (外法箱, a "supernatural box that contains dolls, animal and human skulls ... [and] Shinto prayer beads").

Miko also use bells, drums, candles, gohei, and bowls of rice in ceremonies.

The Japanese words miko and fujo ("female shaman" and "shrine maiden" respectively) are usually written 巫女 as a compound of the kanji 巫 ("shaman"), and 女 ("woman"). Miko was archaically written 神子 ("kami" + "child") and 巫子 ("shaman child").

The term is not to be confused with miko meaning "prince", "princess" or "duke", and which is otherwise variously spelt 御子 ("august child"), 皇子 ("imperial child"), 皇女 ("imperial daughter", also pronounced himemiko), 親王 ("prince") or 王 ("king", "prince" or "duke"). These spellings of miko were commonly used in the titles of ancient Japanese nobles, such as Prince Kusakabe (草壁皇子, Kusakabe no Miko or Kusakabe no Ōji).

Miko once performed spirit possession and takusen (whereby the possessed person serves as a "medium" (yorimashi) to communicate the divine will or message of that kami or spirit; also included in the category of takusen is "dream revelation" (mukoku), in which a kami appears in a dream to communicate its will) as vocational functions in their service to shrines. As time passed, they left the shrines and began working independently in secular society. In addition to a medium or a miko (or a geki, a male shaman), the site of a takusen may occasionally also be attended by a sayaniwa who interprets the words of the possessed person to make them comprehensible to other people present. Kamigakari and takusen may be passive, when a person speaks after suddenly becoming involuntarily possessed or has a dream revelation; they can also be active, when spirit possession is induced in a specific person to ascertain the divine will or gain a divine revelation.

Miko are known by many names; Fairchild lists 26 terms for "shrine-attached Miko" and 43 for "non-shrine-attached Miko". Other names are ichiko (巫子, "shaman child"), or "market/town child" (巫子) (both likely ateji meaning "female medium; fortuneteller"), and reibai (霊媒, meaning "spirit go-between, medium").