Women of the Sacred Groves: Divine Priestesses of Okinawa

Rating:
Summary: A truly ghastly example of erroneous methodology
Review: I was initially delighted to see at long last the appearance of a work in English on Okinawan ethnology, a subject of enormous intrinsic interest that throws light on Japan's neglected "other half" (i.e. the Ryukyuan cultural sphere). Furthermore, this is a field which should fascinate anyone with an interest in Japanese culture bearing in mind that, ever since the work on the subject in Japanese of Iha Fuyu, Shimabukuro Genshichi, Yanagita Kunio, Orikuchi Shinobu and many other illustrious scholars more than 50 years ago, Okinawan religion and ethnology have been considered to constitute the earliest stratum of Japanese ethnic culture. This is perhaps one of the most extensively researched fields of Okinawan culture (one might even say of Japanese culture), with a vast body of research literature ranging through the disciplines of ethnology, history, oral literature, the performing arts, etc. But what a scandalous disappointment this work by Sered is! How can it have got past the OUP readers? There are almost no references to any of the vast Japanese literature on the subject (which is summarily dismissed as being virtually unworthy of consideration; perhaps because of the author's inability to read it?), the author shows no awareness of any of the historical and literary antecedents of relevance to her field, no attempt is made to expand her findings historically or geographically, etc., etc. The whole enterprise is a truly disgraceful example of faulty research. Considering the dearth of material in English on Okinawan and Ryukyuan culture and its relevance within the overall corpus of Japanese studies, this is a great pity, and one can but hope that the situation will be remedied through the appearance of an informed study on the subject in English in the near future.

Rating:
Summary: Erroneous, Insensitive, Biased
Review: Susan Sered's book "Women of the Sacred Groves" was not only a disappointment to read as a so-called "scholarly work", but disenheartening to read as as an Okinawan woman. Solely dependent on the lifeline ofinterpreters to conduct her research, the end product of her study is deeply colored. Since she is unable to read Japanese, she missed the rich accumulation of research on Okinawan women carefully discussed since Iha Fuyu's History of Okinawa. Also, because she bases most of her background research on the works of other white anthropologists and historians, many of whom were doing their "field work" during military occupation (thus fraught with political agendas) her work is tinged with bias. It amazes me how this book got published, since it was slapped together in such an unruly fashion.