...And this is what a young priestess,' accompanied by her assistant, ritual to hear the voices of gods might have looked like as her male vassals look on. These pics are not from Okinawa but are actually from Yoshinogari archeological sites in northern Kyushu, circa 2nd to 3rd centuries, and are recreations of what life may have looked like in one of Japan's ancient fortified domains. Historically, these shamanic kingdoms led by female spiritual leaders eventually gave way to the hierarchical societies run by men, but as we know their forms have somewhat persisted on the outer remote islands of the archipelago (including Miyako) to this day.
Oh and is it a coincidence that these old matrilineal societies had people whose physical features were a bit different - more beautiful, subjectively put - from the mainstream and that their present-day descendants in Ryukyu islands have given us a disproportionate number of actresses and supermodels? Well, again, who knows:-)
(Photos by Aster)
Didrik Svahn
2023-08-22 04:37:54 +0000 UTCsavaster
2023-08-21 22:58:43 +0000 UTCDidrik Svahn
2023-08-21 13:51:27 +0000 UTC