What's A Miko?

Anyone who's watched much of Sailor Moon has probably noticed that much of the time, Rei is depicted wearing the same red pants-- called a hakama-- and white top. When her friends help out in the shrine, they also assume the same attire. It's the traditional costume of the miko, a Shinto priestess.

It's not that surprising to find a miko incorporated into Sailor Moon. After all, it is set in Japan, and is a "magical girl" anime to boot. While getting your power from a magical silver crystal or a planet via a henshin stick requires you to set aside your skepticism for a while and accept the premise, it's entirely reasonable to assume that yes, a miko would have magical powers on her own. In the anime, in the episode introducing Sailor Mars, she uses her Mars Power to toast Jadeite. But in the manga, she used her power as a Shinto priestess to destroy Neflyte. She even continues to alternate between her powers as a Sailor Senshi and her miko powers late into the anime. She can use her "Burning Mandala" or "Mars Flame Sniper" whenever she wants... or she can throw an ofuda at an enemy to incapacitate it. Or when their friend Unazuki's pure crystal heart was stolen (in SailormoonS), Rei first used an ofuda against the girl when she tried to kiss Makoto and Usagi; then she stayed behind to watch over Unazuki, chanting over her.

But Shinto magic and mikos are not limited to Sailor Moon. In Ranma 1/2, monsters can be controlled... to a certain degree... by use of magical Shinto wards. Miss Sakura is a relatively inept example of a miko, in Urusei Yatsura. Her powers aren't quite as well-controlled as they should be. Chiaki, on the other hand, is a high-school-age miko in Zenki, who uses her powers to control the demon Zenki, and has him fight evil. She reduces him to a baby demon, thus making him easier to manipulate, although Zenki certainly wouldn't mind the chance to destroy her. But he never gets it. In Silent Mobius, Nami Yamigumo was a miko before she joined the A.M.P. Keiko is a miko who rids Tokyo of a demon in Doomed Megalopolis, set in the 1920's. It's interesting to note that Keiko's deity is Kannon, a Buddhist god. Lan Komatsuzaki, in Blue Sonnet, is the Red Fang. Zeguy has Miki; Demon Hunter Yohko has both Yohko and her grandmother. And there are certainly many others.

Historically, mikos have been oracles, up until the 1930's. They would dance themselves into a trance, and then channel a deity's message. Because Japanese militarists did not want to look superstitious or foolish to the rest of the world, they were banned. Another reason was that they were difficult to control. But since World War II, their numbers have been rising. They continue on to this day to dance at Shinto festivals, or to fulfill temple duties. Prophecies, however, are rare. Not all mikos are young girls-- some real-life ones are the wives of Shinto priests; many are at a grandmotherly age. Theoretically, a miko should be a virgin, and should be above such mundane duties as housework. Often (both in anime and in real life), the position of miko is a hereditary duty, and is transferred down the female line. Interestingly enough, men seem to have a different approach in their Shinto duties. Instead of relying upon dancing, or trances, they use prayers, chants, astrology, the Chinese I Ching, and other undramatic things. This probably accounts for why there are more anime mikos out there, as opposed to priests or monks or such. It doesn't make for stunning animation watching someone look up how to interpret an outcome in the I Ching.

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