Miko

These three young Junior High Schoolgirls are Miko, or shrine maidens, and are taking part in the procession of the mikoshi at a matsuri. Before the procession they had performed Miko-mai, a sacred dance in the shrine.

These miko are volunteers, and just train for this performance. At many of the larger shrines that have full-time staff you may see older Miko, working in the shrine shop or office. Nowadays the only requirement to be a miko is being unmarried, though in earlier times it was necessary to be a virgin. Before that shrine miko were pre-pubescent girls who retired at the onset of puberty. In Izumo the tradition was different, and miko remained miko all their lives and passed on the function to their daughters. Nowadays many miko are daughters of priests.

Miko also assist the priests with ceremonial duties as in the photo below where a miko is performing Oharae, a purification ritual. There are a few female priests in Shinto, but not many.

Another type of miko no longer existing were the wives of Shugenja. The miko would go into a trance under the control of her yamabushi husband. Miki-san, the founder of the Tenrikyo religion was functioning as a stand-in miko when she began to have trance. Shamanesses and priestesses were probably the norm in ancient times before the influence of Buddhism.

Akiba Shrine, Nishigamo, Kyoto.

In the foothills of NW Kyoto City stands Kyoto Golf Club. Bisecting the convoluted course is a narrow valley reached by a small road that passes Shakuhachi Pond. After passing under the bridge traversed by the golf carts one comes to Akiba Shrine. Enshrined here is one of the Fire Protection deities. There are many Akiba Shrines scattered throughout Japan, the original shrine is in Shizuoka, and the Akiba cult was spread by Yamabushi, the mountain warrior monks of the shugendo religion.

The shrine is in a state of poor repair, and seems abandoned, but on closer inspection one sees that the altars in front of the small hondens have fresh offerings placed upon them.

There is also a small Inari shrine, also with fresh offerings. Probably no priests visit the shrine. Akiba (sometimes pronounced Akiha) is classified as a "folk" kami, which basically means its very popular but has nothing to do with the Imperial kami that State Shinto is based on.

Further evidence of the Shugendo connection is the small altar to Fudo Myojin, a Buddhist deity of Indian origin that was particularly revered by followers of Shugendo. The altar is at a water purification spot, the channel above brings ice-cold mountain water which falls onto the yamabushi in a form of water purification. Shugendo was outlawed by the Meiji government in their drive to create the national State religion of Shinto. It became legal again after 1945, but is now just a pale imitation of what it was.