ABSTRACT
The blind mediums known as itako or ichiko are not considered by some authorities, notably Hori, to be true shamans. They exhibit none of the symptoms of ‘arctic hysteria’, the neurotic oddity and proneness to dreams and haunting that we saw to be the prelude to the sacred life among the living goddesses. They experience no call from the other side, neither in dreams nor in sudden possessions. Nor do they show any true power-giving relationship with a tutelary deity. The deity to whom they are formally ‘wedded’ at their ceremony of initiation seldom comes to their aid thereafter with the supernatural gifts we saw to be the strength of the living goddesses. Nor are they capable any longer of achieving a truly ecstatic state. What passes for a trance among them is seen on shrewd inspection to be mere imitation.1
