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Paper short abstract

This paper explores spirit possession rituals in Japan (Kuchiyose) and Uttarakhand, India (Jagar), highlighting their cultural, religious, and ecological roots. Through fieldwork and textual study, it examines similarities and differences, revealing shared mountain cosmologies and oral traditions.

Paper long abstract

Spirit possession rituals embody the intersection of oral tradition, spirituality, and cultural identity. This paper offers a comparative study of Japan’s Kuchiyose practice mediated by the blind shamans (Itako) of Mount Osorezan and the North Indian mountain ritual of Jagar, rooted in the ancestral and divine spirit worship of Uttarakhand. Though geographically distant, both traditions reveal striking parallels in how communities negotiate unseen worlds, resolve crises, and sustain cultural memory.

Drawing from primary fieldwork, oral narratives, and secondary scholarship, the study investigates the origins, practices, and functions of spirit possession in these two mountainous regions. While Itako channel the voices of the deceased to provide guidance, Jagaris awaken deities and ancestors through epic songs of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Both embody a living archive of ecological and spiritual knowledge, situating mountains as sacred thresholds between human and divine.

The analysis situates these traditions within broader questions: How do oral rituals transmit generational wisdom? What similarities and differences emerge across Japan and India in ritual performance, cosmology, and community participation? And how might such practices illuminate trans-regional connections between folk religion, Buddhism, and local cosmologies?

By juxtaposing Kuchiyose and Jagar, this paper contributes to discussions on spirit possession, oral tradition, and cultural resilience. It highlights how mountain communities, through ritual and song, preserve embodied knowledge of land, ancestors, and spirituality amid shifting religious and social landscapes.