Paper short abstract:

This paper will present how Japanese divination practices have evolved, how fortune tellers are adapting to societal changes and technological advancements, their regional variations, their religious/spiritual dimensions, and how healing (iyashi) is promoted and administered.

Paper long abstract:

Divination (uranai) in Japan is a robust industry, and with the proliferation of online social media, a network of fortune tellers has blossomed. Inspirational words of encouragement and warm acknowledgment of common anxieties invite clients to further explore a more personalized paid divination session with a professional (certified) fortune teller. Japanese divination is not a new phenomenon and is, in fact, an established occupation and a social resource with deep historical, religious, and cultural roots. However, and perhaps surprisingly, scholarly reporting in English is still lacking. With that in mind, my interest in exploring fortune tellers in contemporary Japan is to investigate and report how Japanese divination practices have evolved over time, how Japanese fortune tellers are adapting to societal changes and technological advancements, their regional variations (urban, rural, northern and southern Japan, etc.), their religious/spiritual dimensions, and finally, how healing (iyashi or hīringu) is promoted and administered. Japanese fortune tellers today are effective in operating spiritual counseling services that integrate a blending of foreign and localized divination methods. Moreover, each fortune teller appears to be flexibly self-defining their unique identity as a modern “healer” by producing original (often handmade) divination tools and selecting distinctive combinations of oracle (orakuru) methods based on established methods like crystal energy cleansing, tarot card reading, palm reading, numerology, chakra strengthening, etc.

This presentation coincides with my dissertation and is a work-in-progress.