An Island Listening to the Voices of Ancestral Spirits - Prayers of Ishigaki Island Yuta (1980s)

An Island Listening to the Voices of Ancestral Spirits - Prayers of Ishigaki Island Yuta (1980s)

This film covers the culture of yuta (folk mediums) that remains on Ishigaki Island. The way they attend to the concerns of their consultants and communicate with ancestral spirits fulfills a healing function different from that of modern medicine. The importance of this spiritual culture, which has deep ties to faith and community and is being lost in the face of increasing urbanization, is discussed.
The yuta culture that took root on Ishigaki Island in Okinawa in the 1980s was noted as a symbol of a spiritual culture that continues to live on in a Japanese society undergoing urbanization and modernization. Yuta are female mediums who ease people's worries and illnesses through communication with ancestral spirits, and in local communities they have functioned as a form of "healing" separate from medical treatment. The issues that people bring to Utah for consultation range from family discord, illness, and uncertainty about the future, to which Utahs provide answers through oracles. This practice is not mere superstition, but a social support based on the trust and memory of the community, and a source of emotional strength for the individual. Especially on Ishigaki Island, nature worship and ancestor worship are closely tied to daily life, and the presence of utah plays an important role as a mediator. However, with the influx of tourism and culture from outside, a sens
e of distance toward uta among the younger generation is beginning to emerge, and its continued existence and transformation is being questioned. This article offers a perspective that reexamines the meaning of faith and community in our time through the presence of Utah.