Outcasts and marginals in medieval Japanpoints out, the shōmonji structure was similar to that of the shuku hinin, with an upper stratum that
supervised a population of beggars.^60 Ultimate control over the shōmonji, of course, rested with
Daijōin and Kōfukuji.
Performance, itinerancy, and gender
Itinerant female shamans and shirabyōshi were a relatively late addition to stigmatized groups.
Female shamans in general had long occupied respected positions at shrines and continued to do
so throughout the medieval period, but it seems that by the mid- fourteenth century, some had
become detached from shrines and wandered about the countryside, performing divinations and
telling fortunes. These were the arukimiko that Jinson mentions.
Shirabyōshi were performers who sometimes traded in sex. It is difficult to categorize them
as outcasts during the Kamakura period, since they sometimes formed sexual liaisons with men
of the highest status, such as the retired sovereign Go- Toba (1180–1239, r. 1183–1198). There
is, however, some indication that in the thirteenth century, shirabyōshi were viewed as low-
status persons. For example, a shogunal edict of 1267 concerning widows’ and divorcees’
inheritance rights limits those of shiryabyōshi and another type of female entertainer, kugutsu,
calling them “base” (bonpi) women. While they were not designated by any of the names
that regularly refer to outcasts, the edict clearly marginalizes them, and by accusing them of
having “enticed” men into bequeathing them property, suggests that they were sexually
transgressive.^61
The position of shirabyōshi and other female entertainers in the Kamakura period, like that of
hinin, has been debated by Japanese scholars. Amino Yoshihiko and Wakita Haruko have exam-
ined one case concerning shirabyōshi, using the same document to reach different conclusions. The
case involved a lawsuit in 1256 concerning the indenture of one Tokuishime, probably a
shirabyōshi. She had been pawned as security for a loan, and her guarantor Tamaō, clearly identi-
fied as a shirabyōshi, filed a deposition in the case. While Amino argues that Tamaō had the stand-
ing to present her case in court and the wealth to act as a guarantor, Wakita focuses on Tokuishime’s
situation as evidence for the sale of human beings in entertainer society. Toyonaga Satomi pro-
poses a compromise solution similar to the one suggested for hinin by Kuroda Hideo: entertainer
society was complex and stratified, and different individuals within it may well have been treated
differently.^62
The status of female entertainers and unaffiliated shamans becomes clearer in the fourteenth
century, and Wakita Haruko notes their association with shōmonji and their residence in dry river
beds or the sanjo.^63 Quoting a passage from Gion shugyō nikki dated 1352/2, Niunoya Tetsuichi
claims that shirabyōshi, female shamans, and sexual entertainers called asobi were considered the
“most sinful among women”^64 —indicating that they were regarded as prostitutes. While I think
that the label “prostitute” was probably unevenly applied, materials from the mid- fourteenth
century and later make it clear that by that time, some female performers belonged to stigmatized
groups.
An entry of Suwa daimyōjin ekotoba dated 1365/5/5 suggests the contempt with which such
groups were regarded. Performers had come to the shrine festival: “ ‘Scattered people’ (sanzai)
also came.^65 We gave the usual allotment of cloth to the females and males.” The terms used for
females and males are mesu and osu, indicating animals rather than human beings. The passage
continues:
Then those in official seats removed their jackets and piled them up like a mountain, forming
a barrier between those in charge and the vagabonds. Types such as shirabyōshi, female