巫女 (Miko) Shrine Maiden

7th March ー　弥生

When you go to the shrine, you probably see the ladies working with white and red clothes. Those people are called 巫女 (Miko / Fujo) and help the priests at the shrine. In the past, Miko had very important roles for both society and religiously.

In the old time, Miko was the ladies who does 神楽 (Kagura), which is the dancing and singing for god. They were the prayers, fortune-teller and even did 口寄せ (Kuchiyose) who can become a medium for talks between people and gods or spirits, ghosts and communicate through her. Therefore, Miko was treated as very important people.

Miko exists from 700 years, they had been controlling the weather (Just like the movie, Weathering With You…). Moreover, when the time there were no doctors exist, Miko used to cure the sick and stopping the plagues by praying for gods.

However, in the Edo era, the government abandon the Miko’s previous works and gradually the power of Miko has been forgotten. Therefore, nowadays there are not many Miko are able to do the prediction or talks to gods.

Now, Miko is just a ladies who works at shrine helping for priests and there are no requirement for becoming Miko. There are even part-time workers when the shrines are busy – expecially in the New Years time. Usually Miko are chosen from the priest families but if you want to work there, you can apply for shrine just like a normal jobs. They normally do not require any qualification. Generally Miko are finishing their job at late 20’s and it used to be unmarried girls, but now it is not so strict so many shrine accept anybody who wants to work at shrine.

If you want to try Miko jobs, you can start looking up at job hunting website or go to the shrines to ask when the time gets close to the end of year! Perhaps you can become a Miko and learn cool culture about Japan from working there:)