A Historical Study of the Yuta

How did Okinawa’s spirit mediums acquire their influence, and why did repeated efforts to suppress them fail? In this historical study, Iha Fuyū follows the yuta and toki through the religious and political life of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Royal priestesses, village ancestral rites, prophetic songs, disputed miracles, and government decrees reveal a society in which faith and authority were closely entwined.

First published in 1913, the essay also asks what education and reform can offer people whose religious needs remain powerful. Iha’s lecture moves from the prestige of women in earlier Ryukyu to their exclusion from learning, then turns toward contemporary European interest in psychic research.

This complete English translation preserves the quoted documents, ritual drama, and ancient songs. Brief notes identify uncertain readings, unreadable source characters, and chronological discrepancies. The author’s period judgments remain intact, making the work a distinctive record of Okinawan historical scholarship, religious debate, and arguments about women’s education.