Religious Tradition in Japan - Geography of Religion in Japan: Religious Space, Landscape, and Behavior - page 27

The fi rst is that “the place itself is particularly powerful”; such places include
mountains, forests, trees, rocks, fountains, or caves that contain shapes or special
characteristics that make them extraordinary. The second is that “the place is related
to a particularly important person (or God).” This characteristic usually refers to
spiritual places, principal temples, and cemeteries related to saints, sages, disciples,
and heroes. In most cases, a sacred place exhibits a mix of these characteristics.
Defi ning a sacred place absolutely is therefore basically impossible. The above
characteristics depict only one aspect of what really constitutes a sacred place; this
generally involves complicated religious phenomena.
For example, a miraculous healing story is an integral part of Lourdes, a sacred
Catholic site in the south of France. In this story, the Holy Mother led people to water
from a spring that was then incorporated into the unique natural landscape. Gradually,
people began to consider it a miraculous place. Symbols such as holy statues and
crosses were erected, along with religious buildings such as a church and annexes.
All these factors contribute to the identifi cation of Lourdes as a sacred place.
All sacred places are related to the holy in some way, and therefore have reli-
gious value. While their origins may vary, they are typically very important to those
who recognize them. In a similar fashion, sacred places generally provide a variety
of functions to the public. Sites with religious value simultaneously incorporate
cultural and historical heritage, and many also have high economic value as promi-
nent tourist resources for the region. Examples of sacred places that play an impor-
tant role as a tourist resource can be found in nearly every city (for example, Kyoto
and Nara). Let us then hypothetically defi ne a sacred place as being “somewhere
with mysterious appeal that is signifi cant to individuals,” and examine the landscape
of popular sacred places in Japan.
We will now turn to the landscape of Seifa-utaki , the supreme sacred site of the
Kingdom of Ryukyu, to examine its original style. The word Utaki refers to sacred
places spread throughout the Nansei Islands, from the Amani Islands through to
Miyako and Yaeyama. Exactly when the Seifa-utaki became regarded as the sacred
place of the Kingdom of Ryukyu is unknown, but according to the Chuzan Seikan ,
the offi cial history of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, it was one of the Utaki created by
Amamikyo, or the Creator. In the middle of the fi fteenth century, it was designated
as the ritual place to pray for the safety of the state, and was a very important sanctu-
ary for the Kingdom of Ryukyu.
The word Seifa denotes a sacred place with a high degree of spiritual power. The
place of worship reveals the relationship between the Ryukyu Dynasty and Seifa-
utaki , in a space surrounded by huge rocks and sacred trees bearing the same name
as a room at Shuri Castle. The Uarauri 1 was the ritual that bestowed the name when
1 Uarauri originally denoted a jito (lord of the region) visiting the territory for the fi rst time, while
Kikoe-no-Okimi refers to a naming ritual wherein she would travel to Chinen-Magiri , her territory,
and receive the God's name by being confi ned at Seifa-utaki for one night (see Kadokawa Japan
Place-name Grand Dictionary Editorial Committee 1986 ; Kokugakuin University, Japanese
Culture Research Institute 1999 ).