The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan by Carmen Blacker

Review by: I. M. Lewis

Religious Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Sep., 1977), pp. 374-375
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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374 REVIEWS
dialogue is considerable. For the most part, discussion has centred on the
possible compatibility of the two movements. The merit of Machovec's study
is to suggest that not only is there a basic compatibility in the shared concern
with man's situation and future, but further that each has something to
contribute to the other. For as he notes, Marxism can supply new emphasis
on the future from a socially-critical perspective in which human phenomena
are to be understood in terms of human beings; and conversely, as the
problems we face are not only economic, but moral as well, Marxists who
are interested in going beyond mere recitation of the party line need to face
this other aspect of human reality. On the whole, then, Machovec seems
correct when he states: '.. . the Marxism of the twentieth century can be
truly faithful to itself only when it has the courage to open itself whole
heartedly to this fruitful dialogue with the central problems of the Western
tradition' (38).
The translation, from the German edition, reads smoothly, and no mis
prints were detected. But one should note that in the Czech language the
author's name is written as Machovec, and not as Machovec. Regrettably
Peter Hebblethwaite's introduction contains a large number of minor
factual errors, such as statements that Milan Priuha was a professor of
philosophy in Charles University, when in fact he was a researcher in the
Academy of Sciences, or that Dr Erika Kadlecova' had ministerial rank in
the government, when in fact she did not, etc. The factual inaccuracies in
the introduction, for which the author cannot be held responsible, constitute
the single weakness of an otherwise valuable book.
TOM ROCKMORE
Carmen Blacker. The Catalpa Bow: a study of Shamanistic Practices in
japan.
Pp. 376, illus. (London: Allen and Unwin, I975.) ?8.75.
This comprehensive study by a Japanese specialist is a welcome addition to
the modern literature on shamanism. With stylish scholarship Dr Blacker
explores the changing significance of shamanistic symbolism and institutions
in the culture history of Japan. Her impressive control of her textual source
material is supplemented by her own vivid first-hand experience of a number
of the more gruelling shamanistic pilgrimages and ordeals (including fire
walking). Dr Blacker is clearly a sympathetic as well as a meticulous observer
and successfully conveys her nostalgia at the passing
away,
as she sees it, of
this attractive old tradition in the face of garish modernity. Traditionally,
and even today despite the 'aggressive secularism' of the times, Dr Blacker
emphasizes how often the source of human calamities is sought in the
'spiritual realm', whose mysterious forces shamanism seeks to locate, control
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REVIEWS 375
and contain. Typically, this requires the collaboration of two complementary
figures: the ecstatic female medium (miko) and the ascetic male exorcist
(shamon). Both intermediaries allow communication to take place between
mortals and spiritual powers. Strumming the magical Catalpa Bow or using
other techniques, the ecstatic medium becomes possessed by spirits who
thus express their demands. Her male collaborator then directly enters the
spiritual realm, either sending his soul (spirit) on dangerous cosmic missions,
or confronting symbolic representations of the spirit world in this.
Each style of mystical communication has its own distinctive form of
trance: the first, involving spirit possession, is correspondingly violent; the
second, involving what anthropologists call 'soul-loss' is passive, the shaman
being in a deep, even 'comatose state of suspended animation'. Dr Blacker
insists, rightly, I think, that both these figures are technically shamans and
stresses the pervasive importance of shamanism in Japanese religion down
the centuries. This perspective, emphasizing what anthropologists might
call practical religion, 'makes nonsense', Dr Blacker explains, of the con
ventional distinction between Shinto and Buddhism and is even reflected
in the No plays many of which, the author considers, are 'concealed
shamanistic rituals'. This pragmatic stress on actual local beliefs and
practices, however at variance with the high literate tradition, naturally
commends itself to the anthropological reader and greatly enhances the
value of Dr Blacker's subtle analysis of shamanistic ritual and symbolism.
For those who are not experts on Japan, however, the quest is sometimes
arduous and demands alert attention as the reader is whisked backwards
and forwards across the centuries in pursuit of a particular religious theme.
This somewhat unsettling experience (exhilerating though it is) is for the
social anthropologist compounded by an often tantalising lack of information
on the social context of shamanistic activity. The prominence of women
mediums (or shamans)
is noted at many points in the book and, towards
the end of the book, elucidated in terms of the customary constraints imposed
on young housewives in Japan.
But such sociological data as the reader is
vouchsafed tend to be impressionistic and vague. But then Dr Blacker
makes no claims to expertise in this direction. There is also an intriguing
paradox. Authentic shamanistic practices are dying out, Dr Blacker tells
us, and with them 'the truth and beauty of the ritual'. Yet reference is
also made to the rise of the 'new Japanese religions' and their shamanistic
connexions. Is it not thus perhaps possible that here, as elsewhere, the
relentless march of materialism usually eventually promotes its own anti
thesis with a renewed quest for the occult 'womb'?
I. M. LEWIS
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