ABSTRACT
The oldest shamanic figure of which we have any record is the Shinto miko. This powerful sacral woman-the term ‘female shaman’ conveys only feebly the probable majesty of her presence —served in shrines throughout the land in the late prehistoric period as the mouthpiece for numina of certain kinds. She was to be found in the Emperor’s court, transmitting the admonitions and instructions of deities to the Emperor himself, as well as in villages remote from the central Yamato plain where she acted as the link between the local tutelary kami and the villagers under his care.
