沖繩の神女の婚姻制について

概要

論文の詳細を見る
Shinjo in Okinawa are said to have been prohibited from marriage by the political authorities. The latter intended to monopolize their spiritual powers (seji=霊力). With the appearance of the local governor Agi in the nineth centuary, his sister Noro (祝女) forced the shinjo not to get married. But the spinsterhood can not be founded on any sure materials. On the contrary at the beginnings of modern history, when the central organization was strengthened, there are many materials on marriage about the Supreme shinjo Kikoeogimi (聞得大君) and her subordinate shinjo. And in Okinawa all the women were, so to speak, living godesses called onarigami (おなり神) and though among them some became negami (根神) or wakanoro (若ノロ) or noro (祝女), when young, they passed a night with the other girls at neyado (寝宿), singing and dancing in a group on the fields, through which they found an occasion of love and finally marriage. As a matter of fact there were unmarried women because of the personal or family reasons but not because of political compulsions. The aim of this paper is to clarify that the marriage of shinjo is rather commonplace, not exceptional, and its form was the same in the Meiji Era.
1971-12-28