The Catalpa Bow (A study of shamanistic practices in Japan)

The Catalpa Bow: A study of shamanistic practices in Japan by Carmen Blacker
UK: Allen and Unwin, 1975; RoutledgeCurzon, 2004.  384 pages, medium size.  ISBN1-873410-85-9

This is a very inspiring book.  It’s written by a University of Cambridge academic in an accessible style with personal anecdotes and engaging accounts of interviews.  It covers the full gamut of ‘communing with spirits’, from early Shinto miko to Buddhist practices and the shin-butsu activities of shugendo (mountain asceticism).  In so doing, it covers the history of early Shinto in authoritative fashion and provides much succinct information.

There are clear and enlightening summaries of attitudes towards death, spirits, and the afterlife.  There is also discussion of the different spiritual traditions, one stream coming from the south (Melanesian and South-East Asia influences) with the more dominant northern shamanistic tradition coming down from the Altaic regions of Mongolia and beyond.  Much of this draws on Japanese scholarship, and the references are often fleshed out with useful commentary.

Chapters range from descriptions of early miko-shaman to the degraded or fossilised practices still current at Osore-san and elsewhere.  There is also explicit information about the once highly secret ‘entering the mountain’ rites of Shugendo.  From blind mediums to witch animals, the book covers the spectrum of Japanese shamanistic spiritualism in systematic and illuminating manner.

Summary: An excellent book in every respect, both authoritative and readable, as well as being packed with valuable information.