Rituals Before a Parade
The scene above occurred at the start of juri-uma in the Tsuji district of Naha, Okinawa.
Leading visits to each sacred site are these two special women.
Just being allowed to attend and, photograph these events, is enough to satisfy me.
But, some people want to know more of the mystery behind the scenes.
For those, who like to dig deeper into the rituals and culture, I find some links:
There You Have It
There's probably enough information up there to write your own dissertation.
All this research and reading is fine for most folks.
But, I prefer what, I call flip-flops on the ground-type research.
So, I plan on making a few more trips back to Tsuji, where I can talk to real people.
Wouldn't it be nice to know if the place is full of holy ladies or, hookers ?
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4 comments:
Beautiful song...
Muza-chan, Well, that's because you have a good ear for music !
For most Okinawan I know and those that are related to my wife the Yuta is not respected nor consulted. Although it's true many are drawn into their web and from 50,000 to 80,000 yen a visit it ain't cheap. Many we know of personally in their later years literally lost their minds. Dangerous ground messing around with spiritual darkness and especially for profit. If a person truly has spiritual gifts it's much better to use them to bless others than for profit.
J.R. Sorrow,
It has been my experience Yuta are respected and, consulted with, on many more occasions that many people realize. You are certainly entitled to you opinions and, I respect them. But, I hesitate to say, they are messing around with spiritual darkness for profit. One could make that charge against almost any organized religion if, they looked at all the gold squandered on their churches, mosques and shrines.
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