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''Kikoe-ôgimi'' was a title held by the top high priestess in the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]]. The position was created in [[1478]] by King [[Sho Shin|Shô Shin]], who reorganized much of the royal court, aristocratic, and spiritual/religious official hierarchies at that time. From that time until the [[Ryukyu Shobun|abolition of the kingdom]] in [[1879]], fifteen women held the position, beginning with Shô Shin's younger sister [[Utuchitunumuigani|Gessei]].  

''Kikoe-ôgimi'' was a title held by the top high priestess in the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]]. The position was created in [[1478]] by King [[Sho Shin|Shô Shin]], who reorganized much of the royal court, aristocratic, and spiritual/religious official hierarchies at that time. From that time until the [[Ryukyu Shobun|abolition of the kingdom]] in [[1879]], fifteen women held the position, beginning with Shô Shin's younger sister [[Utuchitunumuigani|Gessei]].  

The newly-created position intentionally eclipsed and replaced the priestess of [[Baten utaki]], who had been among the most prominent and influential spiritual figures in the kingdom under the First Shô Dynasty (c. 1400-1469); whenever a new priestess became ''kikôe-ôgimi'', she made a pilgrimage to a site near Baten and took on the deity name Tedashiro (太陽代, proxy of the sun), appropriating that which had been the domain of the Baten priestess.<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 130.</ref>

The newly-created position intentionally eclipsed and replaced the priestess of [[Baten utaki]], who had been among the most prominent and influential spiritual figures in the kingdom under the First Shô Dynasty (c. 1400-1469); whenever a new priestess became ''kikôe-ôgimi'', she made a pilgrimage to a site near Baten and took on the deity name Tedashiro (太陽代, proxy of the sun), appropriating that which had been the domain of the Baten priestess.<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 130.</ref> The ''kikôe-ôgimi'' also came to be associated with the [[kami]] [[Benzaiten]], a goddess associated with the sea and with the number three; Benzaiten, enshrined in a hall in the [[Ryutan|Ryûtan]] pond below [[Shuri castle|the castle]], also came to be a guardian deity of the kingdom.<ref>Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', 164-165.</ref>

Typically a sister or other female relation to the king, the ''kikoe-ôgimi'' oversaw and managed an extensive hierarchy of priestesses and shamanesses, including the ''[[noro]]'' and ''[[yuta]]'' of the traditional [[Ryukyuan religion]]. It was believed that women had greater spiritual power, and that men, being spiritually weak and vulnerable, required women to protect them; to that end, the ''kikoe-ôgimi'', seen as a sister spirit or sister goddess (姉妹神、おなり神), performed or led various rituals for the protection and prosperity of king and kingdom, for good harvests, and safe voyages. Together with the king she appointed ''noro'' to the various regions of the kingdom,<ref>[[George Kerr]], ''Okinawa: the History of an Island People'', Revised ed., Tuttle Publishing (2000), 111.</ref> and oversaw their activities through a hierarchy of priestesses; directly beneath the ''kikoe-ôgimi'' in this hierarchy were three priestesses known as the ''[[Oamushirare]]'', who each oversaw one-third of the kingdom's ''noro'' and ''[[utaki]]'' (sacred spaces).<ref>Plaque at former site of Jiibu dunchi, the residence of one of the Oamushirare.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/9444384199/in/photostream/]</ref>

Typically a sister or other female relation to the king, the ''kikoe-ôgimi'' oversaw and managed an extensive hierarchy of priestesses and shamanesses, including the ''[[noro]]'' and ''[[yuta]]'' of the traditional [[Ryukyuan religion]]. It was believed that women had greater spiritual power, and that men, being spiritually weak and vulnerable, required women to protect them; to that end, the ''kikoe-ôgimi'', seen as a sister spirit or sister goddess (姉妹神、おなり神), performed or led various rituals for the protection and prosperity of king and kingdom, for good harvests, and safe voyages. Together with the king she appointed ''noro'' to the various regions of the kingdom,<ref>[[George Kerr]], ''Okinawa: the History of an Island People'', Revised ed., Tuttle Publishing (2000), 111.</ref> and oversaw their activities through a hierarchy of priestesses; directly beneath the ''kikoe-ôgimi'' in this hierarchy were three priestesses known as the ''[[Oamushirare]]'', who each oversaw one-third of the kingdom's ''noro'' and ''[[utaki]]'' (sacred spaces).<ref>Plaque at former site of Jiibu dunchi, the residence of one of the Oamushirare.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/9444384199/in/photostream/]</ref>