SYMBOLIC ILLNESSES, REAL HANDPRINTS, AND OTHER BODILY MARKS - AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF OKINAWAN PRIESTESSES AND SHAMANS

Okinawan kaminchu priestesses and yuta (shaman-type practitioners) des cribe histories of illness on the path to accepting the religious role s. These illness narratives fit a socially recognizable formula for wo men religious leaders, a formula that shows the Okinawan listener that the teller is a legitimate religious leader. The types of illness, ho wever, are quite different. Priestesses typically report minor illness es that involve: some type of bleeding or bodily rupture or ''mark,'' whereas shamans typically report severe and long-term illnesses that i nvolve problems with the ''head. '' The differences in their illness n arratives reflect the different cosmological meanings of the two relig ious roles. Priestesses are understood to be incarnations of deity whi le shamans are understood to be especially skilled at communicating wi th deities and ancestors.