utaki

{{Short description|Sacred place in Ryukyuan religion}}

{{For|the album by Misako Odani of the same name|Utaki (album)}}

Image:Sefautaki.jpg

Utaki (御嶽) is an Okinawan term for a sacred place, often a grove, cave, or mountain. They are central to the Ryukyuan religion and the former noro priestess system.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ec4dAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA238&dq=%22Utaki%22+-wikipedia&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqw-j8yfqJAxVTD1kFHYGIABUQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Utaki%22%20-wikipedia&f=false |pages=238-241|title=Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power|year=2003|isbn=9781461637929|publisher= Rowman & Littlefield |editor=Laura Hein, Mark Selden|access-date=November 26, 2024}} Although the term utaki is used throughout the Ryukyu Islands, the terms suku and on are heard in the Miyako and Yaeyama regions respectively. Utaki are usually located on the outskirts of villages and are places for the veneration of gods and ancestors. Most gusuku have places of worship, and it is theorized that the origins of both gusuku and utaki are closely related.

These places usually face east, due to the mythical origin of the gods and spirits in the East, or southeast, south, or southwest in a few places.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OugrYbdRqoQC&pg=PT150&dq=%22Utaki%22+-wikipedia&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqw-j8yfqJAxVTD1kFHYGIABUQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Utaki%22%20-wikipedia&f=false|title= Shamans in Asia|year=2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|editor=Clark Chilson, Peter Knecht |access-date=November 26, 2024}}

There are different theories about these places' origins. One reasonable explanation is that they were created by the indigenous people from the Jōmon period.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} Another, racialist theory was they were created from scratch by the Yamato people, which lead in the 1930s and 1940s to re-consecration and building new Shinto temples on the islands.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NjsfAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA105&dq=%22Utaki%22+-wikipedia&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqw-j8yfqJAxVTD1kFHYGIABUQ6AF6BAgMEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Utaki%22%20-wikipedia&f=false |pages=105-110|title=Heritage Politics: Shuri Castle and Okinawa’s Incorporation Into Modern Japan, 1879–2000|author=Tze May Loo |year=2014|isbn=9780739182499|publisher=Lexington Books|access-date=November 26, 2024}}