Miko - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

In Zeami Motokiyo's 15th-century Noh drama Aoi no Ue, a miko named Teruhi performs an exorcism to remove the spirit of Lady Rokujo from the body of Lady Aoi.

In the 1985 bestselling historical fantasy novel Teito Monogatari (Hiroshi Aramata), the heroine Keiko Tatsumiya is a miko who serves the guardian spirit of Taira no Masakado. She channels the power of the bodhisattva Kwannon to contend with harmful spirits who threaten her family and Tokyo.

Manga and anime typically portray a miko as a heroine who fights evil spirits or demons. Miko are frequently ascribed with magical or supernatural powers, especially divination, and are skilled in the Japanese martial arts. Examples are Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens and Kannazuki no Miko.

In eastern role-playing games, miko sometimes correspond with clerics or white witches. Some romantic bishōjo video games and visual novels portray miko as attractive, prim girls. Fictional kuro miko (黒巫女 "Black/dark miko") are an evil counterpart to traditional miko; for instance, the manga Shrine of the Morning Mist depicts kuro miko as proficient in demonology and black magic. The character Rei Hino from Sailor Moon is a miko in her civilian form and is shown to use Shintoist shamanistic abilities such as dispelling evil forces with an ofuda and divining the future. In the manga and anime series Inuyasha, the characters Kagome and Kikyo are miko, capable of shooting sacred arrows and erecting magical barriers. Reimu Hakurei, arguably the main character of the Touhou Project series of dōjin soft games, is a miko. Furude Rika from Higurashi no naku koro ni is also the miko from the Oyashiro-sama Temple.