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Meeting a Yuta - Spiritualist in Okinawa
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Jeffrey Tuthill
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May 01, 2006 11:01 PDT
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Here is my account of a session with a Yuta.
On my first visit to Okinawa back in 1998, my wife Mitsuko and I attended a session with a yuta. A yuta is a spiritualist or a fortune teller in Okinawa and a part of the religion within the island culture. Most yuta in Okinawa are women as the religion, a combination of Buddhism, animism and shamanism is matriarchal by nature, where women hold the predominant role. The yuta, with supernatural powers of seeing and hearing, are believed to be able to discern the causes of misfortunes and suggest proper action to be taken. Here is my first encounter with a yuta.
I sat on the cushion and stool before the yuta as the old woman studied me for a few moments.
She broke the silence as Mitsuko translated for me; "She sees your money problems."
I nodded in amazement, knowing that Mitsuko had not previously met this yuta. I explained some details to the old woman regarding my financial problems with the IRS and the Federal Bank in the US as my wife translated it into Japanese.
The yuta sat up and spoke again to Mitsu and I as Mitsu translated; "The yuta asks if there is garbage smell at our home?"
The garbage dumpster in the parking garage below our apartment reeked of bad smells that occasionally rose up into our living space.
She responded affirmatively and the yuta explained the reason while Mitsu translated, "Your money problems connected to the garbage. Something about Money Gods sitting in garbage at apartment, the reason for smell at the entrance, close to dumpsters. She says we cannot escape this curse by moving, Money Gods would follow, they angry with your family, make money problems and cause bad smells in garbage."
The yuta continued and Mitsu translated, "She sees someone in your family, a great grandfather maybe, made a lot of money and was greedy. This greed angers the Money Gods making visit from anger of their spirits."
I explained that my family once owned one fifth of the town where I was born in New York, but lost all the land to taxes after the Great Depression.
The yuta advised as Mitsu translated, "There is nothing she can do about Money Gods, the problem is too far away in America. Yuta says we must set up a hinukan shrine in our apartment and that you must pray to it everyday, then Money God will leave."
The fire god, or hinukan, is worshipped at the kitchen hearth in every Okinawan home. The fire god is believed to serve as a messenger carrying requests and announcements from the family to the gods in heaven. In the past, the hearth itself, constructed of three large stones placed in a layer of ashes in a box was placed in back of or beside an oil stove and worshipped. Today, a ceramic censer (kouro) is used to offer prayers to the fire god.
The yuta continued and Mitsu acknowledged her with affirmative grunts that I understood to mean yes.
"The sensei says you in pain, a headache, or stomach, or earache?" Keiko interpreted.
I responded, "Yes my left ear started bothering me when we departed Osaka for Okinawa."
Mitsu confirmed the information to the yuta, who commented in Japanese and she translated, "The Gods of Money act upon you with anger back in America, they are causing you pain now. The sensei says you must pray at ten shrines here in Okinawa before we go home to resolve this. And we must buy a hinukan shrine to bring back to America."
I looked at my wife and asked, "When are we going to find the time to do all this praying, we go home in two days?"
Mitsu answered, "My sister will take us tomorrow, the sensei will pray with us at each shrine."
The yuta asked Mitsu and she verified with me in English, "You were born in the year of the goat, right?"
"Yes, June of 1955." I confirmed.
Mitsu answered in Japanese as the yuta looked through her book of Asian text (I Ching). From the book she copied a circle onto the notepad and darkened one half of it in with her pen, advising Mitsu and I in Japanese.
Mitsu translated, "She says your sign is half dark, half in light. The dark side means the Money Gods make trouble, but will eventually go away, you must pray as the sensei advises to make so."
I didn't much believe in spiritualist's back home and allowed Mitsu the occasional indulgence to have her fortune told and personally did not get involved. On the subject of credibility, I took the same position as I heard Houdini had in his lifetime, concluding that most spiritualists were charlatans. However, back in the West the spiritualist was not an integral part of religion, as it appeared they were in Okinawa.
Moreover in my observations of Western spiritualists, I never saw one of them display any real insight into life, or life troubles, as I personally witnessed with the Okinawan yuta. It impressed me to see these sagely women demonstrate in a few minutes firsthand a soul reading ability never observed in any spiritualist back in America.
By following the yuta's advice, my earache was immediately relieved and eventually my money problems came to an end. Subsequently, I have become a believer in spiritualists, at least in the variety I discovered in Okinawa. The seeing power of the yuta is both a matter of fact and belief.
If you have any questions or comments about my account, please send me an e-mail.
Best Regards,
Jeff Tuthill
oi-@msn.com
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