Changes

[[File:Noro.jpg|right|thumb|400px|A museum display recreating a traditional ''noro'' ritual. Okinawa Prefectural Museum]]

[[File:Noro.jpg|right|thumb|400px|A museum display recreating a traditional ''noro'' ritual. Okinawa Prefectural Museum]]

*''Japanese/Okinawan'': ノロ ''(noro, nuru)''

*''Japanese/Okinawan'': 神女, ノロ ''(noro, nuru)''

''Noro'' were [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryukyuan]] village priestesses, who performed a variety of rituals and ceremonies for the people of the area, as well as watching over local ''[[utaki]]''. Most ''[[magiri]]'' had several ''noro''.<ref name=furusato>Plaques at reproduction of a noro's house, Okinawa Furusato Mura, Ocean Expo Park, Nakijin.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15456827940/sizes/h/]</ref>

''Noro'' were [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryukyuan]] village priestesses, who performed a variety of rituals and ceremonies for the people of the area, as well as watching over local ''[[utaki]]''. Most ''[[magiri]]'' had several ''noro''.<ref name=furusato>Plaques at reproduction of a noro's house, Okinawa Furusato Mura, Ocean Expo Park, Nakijin.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15456827940/sizes/h/]</ref> Though there is some overlap or conflation today between individuals identifying themselves as ''noro'', ''[[yuta]]'' (spirit mediums), ''kaminchu'' (person of the spirits), or by other terms, ''noro'' historically were officially appointed and belonged to a set hierarchy.<ref>Aike Rots, "Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki," ''Religions'' 10:298 (2019), 7.</ref>

Prior to the 16th century, ''noro'' had considerable local power. In the 16th century, however, King [[Sho Shin|Shô Shin]] significantly reduced the ''noro's'' power, establishing a new hierarchy of priestesses, more closely controlled by the government, and headed by his sister, the ''[[kikoe-ogimi|kikoe-ôgimi]]''.<ref>Kerr, George H. (2000). Okinawa: the History of an Island People. (revised ed.) Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 111.</ref> Under this new system, ''noro'' were appointed and granted land in each ''magiri''; this remained a rather prestigious position, however.<ref>"Oroku ma~i" 小禄ま～い. Pamphlet. Naha City Board of Education Cultural Properties Division 那覇市教育委員会文化財課, 1989.</ref> They often had their own assistants, called ''ucchigami'' (控神) in the case of male assistants, and ''niigami'' (根神) in the case of female ones.<ref name=furusato/>

Prior to the 16th century, ''noro'' had considerable local power. In the 16th century, however, King [[Sho Shin|Shô Shin]] significantly reduced the ''noro's'' power, establishing a new hierarchy of priestesses, more closely controlled by the government, and headed by his sister, the ''[[kikoe-ogimi|kikoe-ôgimi]]''.<ref>Kerr, George H. (2000). Okinawa: the History of an Island People. (revised ed.) Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 111.</ref> Under this new system, ''noro'' were appointed and granted land in each ''magiri''; this remained a rather prestigious position, however.<ref>"Oroku ma~i" 小禄ま～い. Pamphlet. Naha City Board of Education Cultural Properties Division 那覇市教育委員会文化財課, 1989.</ref> They often had their own assistants, called ''ucchigami'' (控神) in the case of male assistants, and ''niigami'' (根神) in the case of female ones.<ref name=furusato/>

[[Satsuma han|Kagoshima domain]] attempted to sever the connections between the royal court at [[Shuri]] and the ''noro'' in the [[Amami Islands]] (brought under Kagoshima's control after [[1609]]), but ultimately relented in the face of powerful resistance. Even during this period of political division, and even despite the history of conflict between the Amamis and Shuri, ''noro'' continued to travel to Shuri to seek official appointment from the king, down into the 18th and 19th centuries.<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 26.</ref>

[[Satsuma han|Kagoshima domain]] attempted to sever the connections between the royal court at [[Shuri]] and the ''noro'' in the [[Amami Islands]] (brought under Kagoshima's control after [[1609]]), but ultimately relented in the face of powerful resistance. Even during this period of political division, and even despite the history of conflict between the Amamis and Shuri, ''noro'' continued to travel to Shuri to seek official appointment from the king, down into the 18th and 19th centuries.<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 26.</ref>

The formal system and hierarchy of ''noro'' disappeared with the [[Ryukyu Shobun|abolition of the kingdom]] in [[1879]]; though some still identify as ''noro'' today, particularly on [[Kudaka Island]], they are no longer appointed by any central authority or belong to any state-related or otherwise political hierarchy.<ref>Aike Rots, "Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki," ''Religions'' 10:298 (2019), 6.</ref>

The formal system and hierarchy of ''noro'' disappeared with the [[Ryukyu Shobun|abolition of the kingdom]] in [[1879]]; though some still identify as ''noro'' today, particularly on [[Kudaka Island]], they are no longer appointed by any central authority or belong to any state-related or otherwise political hierarchy.<ref>Rots, 6.</ref>

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