Spirits of the Nansei Islands

Spirits born of the Nansei Islands (Amami, Okinawa and the Ryukyu archipelago), whose climate, vegetation, and religious culture diverge sharply from those of mainland Japan. Tree spirits dwelling in ancient banyan groves (Kenmun, Kijimuna) and the islands-wide collective term for evil spirits (Majimun) are inseparable from the pre-Buddhist Southern-Island folk faith, the distinctively Ryukyuan worldview of sedi (spiritual power), and the religious ecology of yuta and noro mediums and utaki sacred groves. They are the heart of the island folklore long studied by pre-war Okinawan scholars such as Iha Fuyū, Orikuchi Shinobu, Kinjō Chōei, and Shimabukuro Genshichi.