“Mabuigumi” [Spirit Stuffing]
Japanese Text:
Medoruma, Shun. “Mabuigumi.” Mabuigumi. Tokyo: Asahibunko, 1999. Print. 7-45.
English Text:
Medoruma, Shun. “Mabuigumi” [Spirit-Stuffing]. Trans. Kyle Ikeda. Living Spirit: Literature and Resurgence in Okinawa. Ed. Frank Stewart, and Katsunori Yamazato. Pic. Yasuo Higa. Honolulu: Univ of Hawaii Press, 31 July 2011. 112-134.
1. Introduction
“Mabuigumi” [Spirit-Stuffing] was first published in 1998 and was republished in Mabuigumi, together with “Burajiru ojī no sake,” “Omokage to tsurete,” and some other stories in 1999. The story follows Uta, an old woman who lost her husband during the war, and Kōtarō, who lost his parents during the Battle of Okinawa when he was a baby. At the beginning of the story, Kōtarō is lying unconscious at home because he has lost his soul, which sits on the beach while looking out at the ocean. Uta asks his soul to go back to his body, and she remembers her experiences of the Battle of Okinawa.
2. Character List
Uta ウタ
Uta is a friend of Kōtarō’s mother. She is an old woman who can see the souls of people, and she can do spirit stuffing, too. She lost her husband and many friends during the Battle of Okinawa. She is stubborn but respects the formalities of ancient traditions.
Kōtarō 幸太郎
Kōtarō is a middle-aged man, about 50 years old. His parents died during the Battle of Okinawa. He often lost his soul during childhood. Recently, he lost his soul, and a big hermit crab has entered his body. He is unconscious for the entire story, until the end, when he dies.
Omito オミト
Omito is Kōtarō’s mother. She died during the Battle of Okinawa when she was shot by a Japanese soldier while she was trying to get a sea turtle’s eggs.
Fumi, Kentarō and Tomoko フミ、健太郎、友子
Fumi is Kōtarō’s wife, and Kentarō and Tomiko are their children. Fumi is the first person that notices that Kōtarō is unconscious.
Fumiaki Shinzato 新里文昭
Shinzato is the ward chief, and one of the important people in the village. He wants to keep Kōtarō’s situation secret because he’s concerned about how this matter might affect the hotel construction plans of a company from mainland Japan.
Hiroshi Kinjō 金城弘
Kinjō is a young man who is president of the Young Adults’ Association, and one of the important people in the village. He wants to tell everyone about Kōtarō’s situation because if it hits the newspapers and makes the TV news, people will be coming to their village in droves. At the end of the story, he helps Uta kill the big hermit crab.
3. Cultural Background
Mabui マブイ(魂)
According to Hamasaki and Prochaska, mabui means “soul” in Okinawan language. There are two types of soul: ichimabui and shinimabui. Ichimabui refers to the soul of a person who is still alive, and shinimabui is the soul of a person who is already dead. In general, ichimabui dwell in a human’s body, but when a person is shocked, it is possible for it to leave the person’s body, and in this situation, it is necessary to do spirit stuffing. Also, it is said that when a mabui leaves the body and walks around like a person before death, we cannot save that person if we see the shinimabui. Moreover, it is thought that shinimabui continue to exist even if the body is dead, which is to say, shinimabui pass between this world and the after world. In this story, Uta see Kōtarō’s soul sitting at the beach, so perhaps Medoruma is using foreshadowing to suggest that Kōtarō is going to die.
Sprit Stuffing Ceremony マブイグミ(魂込め)
According Miyagi Kikuzō, when a person is shocked, it is possible for the soul to leave the body. In Okinawa, if a person feels depressed, spiritless, or weak in body, it is believed that the person has lost his or her soul. Children are more likely to have this happen. In such a situation, it is necessary to do spirit stuffing. First, when a child loses his soul, he and his grandmother go to the place where the child lost his soul, and pray with a spell after offering sacred wine and rice. Next, they form three Japanese pampas grasses into an R shape, which is called san in Okinawan language. Then they motion the soul into the child’s body with the san. If the child cannot go to the location, it is possible to substitute his clothes instead. Also, if they do not know where the child lost his soul, it is able to do the spirit stuffing ceremony in their bathroom. Okinawan people also do spirit stuffing when a person gets a disease. First, they put seven small stones on the sick person’s clothes. Next, they pick the soul up with the san, and wrap it in the clothes after praying. Last, they put his clothes on him, and put small stones and the san on the side of the bed. In “Mabuigumi,” Uta’s spirit stuffing ceremony is similar to the above description: she does spirit stuffing using Kōtarō’s clothes, three stones, sacred wine, rice, and a stick of incense.
Yuta ユタ
A yuta is an Okinawan female shaman with special training. In Okinawa, yuta are active in harvest festivals, memorial services for ancestors, and for giving people messages from the dead. For example, if somebody worries about his or her situation, the person will sometimes get advice from a yuta. According to Saitō Hiroshi, yuta are Okinawan folk shaman who intervene between god ands humans. Moreover, yuta are dependable people who can help with problems beyond the boundary of human knowledge.
Utaki 御嶽
Okinawa has many holy grounds called utaki. According to a survey by Motoo Wakugami, many Okinawans believe that gods of the natural world and ancestors exist. And it is believed that these gods and ancestors are protecting them. Sometimes, men are not allowed in an utaki, and some utaki can only be entered with a yuta.
Niraikanai ニライカナイ
According to Motoo Wakugami, niraikanai exists far away to the east of the ocean. Also, niraikanai is filled with spiritual power, and it is said that everything in the world, for example, fire, grain, and even people’s souls, are made in niraikanai because it is the world of the gods. Moreover, many Okinawans believe in rebirth and the world after death. For example, Okinawan graves are turtleback tombs, which represent a woman’s uterus, which means that human’s souls came into the world through a woman’s uterus.
4. Plot Summary
Section 1 (7-9)
One morning, Uta is drinking hot tea at home and hears the music for radio exercises from the community center. She has refused to participate, because she believes, “For generations the elderly had started the day with a cup of tea before getting to work” (English translations by Kyle Ikeda, 112). Uta told the chairman of the children’s organization to turn off the music, but he treated her with contempt, so she tried to cut the wire of the speakers with her sickle. The chairman stopped her but turned off the speakers and used the radio instead. However, Uta is still annoyed.
Section 2 (9-14)
Fumi comes running over to Uta’s house and tells her that Kōtarō is ill. They go to Fumi’s house, where Kōtarō is lying on the floor. Uta can see that he has lost his soul. In the past, Kōtarō had often gotten drunk at the beach while playing the sanshin. But this time, Fumi noticed something unusual: a hermit crab had entered Kōtarō’s mouth. After Uta listens to Fumi’s explanation, she decides to go to the beach to do a sprit-stuffing ceremony using Kōtarō’s pale-blue T-shirt.
Section 3 (15-18)
Uta goes back to her house to prepare to do a mabuigumi, a ceremony for getting the soul to return to the body, and then goes go to the beach, where she finds Kōtarō’s soul. The spirit stuffing ceremony is like a charm to ease the mind of a child who was surprised or tired, but sometimes people really lose their souls. Uta thinks that this time, Kōtarō has really lost his soul. After searching, Uta finds Kōtarō’s soul looking at the ocean. She performs the spirit stuffing ceremony over and over, but his soul does not respond, so she leaves.
Section 4 (18-20)
At Kōtarō’s house, Uta sits down near Kōtarō. Fumi carries breakfast to her, but Uta does not have an appetite. Shinzato, on the other hand, eats three bowls. Uta and Shinzato start to talk about Kōtarō. Shinzato suggests not telling anyone about Kōtarō’s situation. They decide to call some important people together that evening. Uta meets Kōtarō’s soul at the ocean around five o’clock. She feels that Kōtarō has forgotten her because he does not react when she talks to him.
Section 5 (20-23)
At the community center, some important people are waiting for Uta. Shinzato says he is worried that this issue will interfere with a building project sponsored by people from mainland Japan. Uta is surprised because his story is different from the daytime. Kinjō counters that Kōtarō’s strange condition will be an advertisement for the village. Of course, Uta gets very angry, so they decide to keep the incident secret until the spirit stuffing ceremony is finished.
Section 6 (23-25)
After Uta sends Fumi to Fumi’s house, she goes to the beach. Kōtarō’s soul is still looking at the ocean. When Uta was young, some young people got together at the beach, played the sanshin, sang songs, and drank alcohol while looking at the moon. That was how Uta and her husband met. Kōtarō’s parents met the same way. Suddenly, Uta feels lonely because she remembers that her friends died during the Battle of Okinawa.
Section 7 (25-28)
From the next day, Uta does the spirit stuffing ceremony four times a day, but Kōtarō’s soul has no change, so she becomes impatient. The big hermit crab gets bigger and Kōtarō’s body becomes weaker. Some men try to get the big hermit crab out of Kōtarō’s mouth, but the plan does not succeed. Around the same time, some reporters from mainland Japan are prowling around his house.
Section 8 (28-31)
It is the sixth day since the big hermit crab entered Kōtarō’s body. Even though Uta does the spirit stuffing all day long, his soul does not return to his body. At night at the beach, she falls asleep before she knows it. After she wakes up, she notices that a sea turtle is coming up the beach and laying eggs. She now understands that Kōtarō’s soul was waiting for this moment. She also suddenly realizes that this is the place where his mother died.
Section 9 (31-35)
During the Battle of Okinawa, a month after the village burned from an American air attack, Uta and Omito were hiding in a cave near the ocean. They had run out of food, so when a sea turtle came up the beach to lay eggs, Omito got out of the cave to get some eggs. Uta called suddenly, and a Japanese soldier shot Omito as she was digging. All the men, including Uta’s husband and Kōtarō’s father, never came back.
Section 10 (35-36)
After the sea turtle finishes laying its eggs, Uta recalls the time when Omito died. Kōtarō was a baby and his grandmother raised him by herself. Since Uta had no child, she treated him like her true child.
Uta thinks that the sea turtle is the same turtle she saw during the Battle of Okinawa or the child of the sea turtle she saw. At the same time, Kōtarō’s soul follows the sea turtle into the ocean. Uta calls to stop Kōtarō’s soul, but it disappears. Uta runs to Fumi’s house because she has a bad feeling.
Section 11 (36-43)
At Fumi’s house, Fumi is crying by the corpse of her dead husband, and two men are tied up. They are the reporters who came from mainland Japan. Because of the reporter’s camera flashes, the hermit crab dove into Kōtarō’s throat in a hurry, which caused his death.
Uta grabs the hermit crab’s claw and tries to pull it out. Some men help her and somehow they manage to pull it out. Uta tries to kill the hermit crab. She hits it with a 1.8-liter bottle many times. Next, she grabs a hoe, but the hermit crab escapes. When the hermit crab clutches a small shovel that Kinjō holds, Uta does not miss the chance. She swings the hoe and this time it strikes the hermit crab’s body. The hermit crab looks at Uta with its frail eyes, which creates feelings of compassion in her. She attempts to stop Kinjō, but he swings the shovel again. Suddenly, Uta thinks that the hermit crab is Omito reborn, but Kinjō puts an end to its life.
Uta tells the reporters to agree not to tell anyone what happened, and she destroys their film. After taking the big hermit crab’s body away, Uta and Fumi clean up Kōtarō’s body and prevail on the doctor to make a certificate of death.
Section 12 (42-45)
“Forty-nine days. That’s how long it takes for a person’s spirit to make the journey to the afterworld and for baby turtles to hatch and enter the sea” (Ikeda, 132). Uta remembers these words of her father’s. On the forty-ninth day anniversary of Kōtarō’s death, Uta goes to the ocean to relive her memories there.
Uta believes that people who lived by the ocean return there when they die. Suddenly, she feels like running away and into the ocean. She stops, places her hands together, and prays, but her prayer is not answered.
5. Setting
Although the story takes place in 1996, there are flashbacks to the Battle of Okinawa. We know the year is about 1996 because Kōtarō was born in 1945 during the Battle of Okinawa, and we learn that he had his first child when he was forty-two years old, and that child is now nine years old.
Next, the story’s setting is near Yomitan Village. In the story, Omito is killed when she tries to get the sea turtle’s eggs, which are laid between May and August. The American air attack began one month later. Yomitan Village was attacked by the American military around April to July, and sea turtles lay their eggs there.
6. Point of View
The story is written in third person from Uta’s point of view. Readers learn what Uta feels, sees, and thinks. However, readers do not know what other people are doing and thinking behind Uta’s back. But the readers can know that she sees the human’s soul. At the end of the story, the point of view seems to jump to an omniscient perspective. This suggests that she has lost her special gift.
7. Themes
Traditional Okinawan Beliefs
Supernatural influences and sprits have not been scientifically proven yet, but can be considered part of Okinawan’s daily life. This story’s theme, Okinawa traditional belief, has three categories.
To begin with, Okinawa’s religions are animism and ancestor worship, both of which are community-based. For example, when Kōtarō drops his soul, Uta prays to the ancestors and gods who live at the utaki and protect the village (16). Also, during the Battle of Okinawa, she prayed to the gods of the utaki (33-4). She also prays to the ocean at the end of the story (45). Those scenes depict Okinawan’s belief in animism and ancestor worship.
Next, in Okinawa, people who have special gifts like yuta are popular with many people. For example, Uta has a sixth sense like yuta in the story, because Uta can see the human’s soul (15) and she can do the spirit stuffing ceremony (16). Also, those people are depending on other people when something strange happens. For example, in this story, Fumi is depending on Uta when Kōtarō drops his soul (9-14). According to Katamoto Eri, yuta have a circle of magical belief in people’s private-like community, and perform fortune telling, purge evil, pray to heal somebody’s disease, and so on (47). To Okinawan people, yuta have a special gift, and most people acknowledge this.
Third, Okinawan’s views of life and death is that when people die, they return to their clan deity or are reborn and come back to this world. This means that some Okinawan people believe in rebirth. For example, Uta thinks the sea turtle is a reincarnation of Omito when it comes up the beach to lay eggs (36). And she thinks the big hermit crab might be a reincarnation of Omito when Uta and Kinjō are trying to kill it (41). Moreover, some Okinawan people believe in niraikanai. For example, Uta said that the human’s soul goes to heaven and the child sea turtle goes to the ocean in forty-nine days, and also she worries about whether Kōtarō’s soul can go there (43). Okinawan people believe that a person’s soul returns to niraikanai after the forty-ninth-day memorial service.
People who are not Okinawan probably feel those scenes are strange, but Medoruma daringly writes from Uta’s point of view to express Okinawa’s traditional beliefs.
Negative Impacts of the Battle of Okinawa
“Mabuigumi” also examines the scars of the Battle of Okinawa: memories, war orphans, and the disruption of the family. First, many war orphans had to live by themselves because they lost their parents in the war. For example, some war orphans stole food to live, so the general public persecuted them. However, in this story, it can be said that Kōtarō was lucky. Of course, Kōtarō is a war orphan because his parents died during the Battle of Okinawa, but his grandmother was alive and raised him instead of his parents. However, the fact that Kōtarō easily drops his soul can be seen as a scar of the war.
Next, some war survivors suffer terribly because of their war memories. For example, some survivors do not want to talk about the war, and some survivors have bad dreams about their frightening experiences. In the story, Uta does not suffer trauma but she feels deep remorse for not saving Kōtarō’s mother, Omito.
8. Criticism of “Mabuigumi”
Kojima, Yōsuke. “Medoruma Shun Mabuigumi Iyasarenu yamai” [Medoruma Shun’s Mabuigumi Never Healing Illness]. Project Report of Research of Chiba University Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Chiba, Japan. Research of Chiba University Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences. 10 Mar. 2009. Print.
Yōsuke Kojima is a researcher of modern Japanese literary studies. He comments that “Mabuigumi” uses magic realism and calls the big crab in Kōtarō’s mouth an “eccentric disease.”
Kojima points out that the narration of “Mabuigumi” is third person but very close to Uta. Thus, the reader can imagine what Uta sees, for example, Kōtarō’s soul. Kojima feels that at the end of the story the narrator forsakes Uta, whose prayer is not answered. Kojima argues that Uta has lost her special gift, and that that is why the narrator forsakes her. Moreover, Kojima points out that Uta is old-fashioned because she is unable to discard old customs, and she abides by ancient folklore. Kojima views Uta as being a traditionist, with a traditional Okinawan gift. The point is that these days, the traditional culture is fading away, so Uta’s special gift is getting weak. Kojima claims that the Battle of Okinawa may be another cause for Uta’s special gift getting weak.
Kojima argues that for Uta the Battle of Okinawa is not over yet. Kojima explains that Uta feels guilty and does not know what happened to her husband and Omito’s husband. Uta regrets that Omito died and that the body has not been recovered. So when Omito’s son, Kōtarō, drops his soul, Uta feels guilty, and this makes her weaker.
Kojima says that the “eccentric disease” in “Mabuigumi” is telling us that the Battle of Okinawa is continuing even now, and that many Okinawans have not been healed. Also, he argues that Uta is a traditionist who maintains the traditional belief, and at the same time, she is a person who has some war scars. In other words, Medoruma shows us a dysfunctional traditional belief, new possibilities of salvation, and moreover, new possibilities of belief for people who are living in modern Okinawa.
9. Symbolism and Imagery
The Big Hermit Crab (Āman) アーマン
The hermit crab is a subtropical zone land animal. Their claws are strong, and they are omnivorous. Their life span is said to be 25 to 30 years, and they get bigger as they get older. In the 1970s, the hermit crab was designated as a natural monument. According to Susan Bouterey, the hermit crab symbolizes ancestors in Okinawa.
In the story, the hermit crab has two meanings. First, it symbolizes death. Kōtarō dies after the hermit crab enters his body, and after Kōtarō dies, Omito and Kinjō kill the hermit crab. According to Susan Bouterey, the original meaning of the hermit crab is the Okinawan people, since the crabs were considered a symbol of the clan deity rather than a threat to someone’s life. But in this story, Medoruma describes the hermit crab as symbolizing death.
The crab also symbolizes the reincarnation of Omito. In “Mabuigumi,” Uta thinks, “When he was a young child and lost his mabui, it always seemed as if Omito was calling to him from the afterworld” (Ikeda 130). In other words, when Kōtarō loses his soul, Uta always thinks that Omito wants her son Kōtarō to come to her side in the afterworld. Moreover, Uta thinks at the end of the story, “This āman might be the reincarnation of Omito…” (132).
The sea turtle ウミガメ
Medoruma’s story depicts not only ancestor-worship and spirit worship, but also belief in the human soul. In addition, some Okinawan people believe in rinentenshō, the belief in the endless circle of birth, death, and rebirth. A female sea turtle lays over one hundred eggs. The sea turtle is described as a symbol of death in the story. Omito, Kōtarō’s mother, was killed when she tried to take the sea turtle’s eggs, and Kōtarō’s soul is waiting for the sea turtle to disappear. At the end of the story, Uta recalls that her father said that the human soul goes to heaven and the child sea turtle goes to the ocean in forty-nine days, and that when humans die, their soul goes back to the ocean. For these reasons, the sea turtle symbolizes death.
10. Discussion Questions
1. Why doesn’t Uta join the Senior Morning Calisthenics at the community center?
2. If Uta has supernatural power, why doesn’t she succeed in performing the mabuigumi ceremony?
3. Why is Kōtarō’s soul waiting for the sea turtle? Why does Kōtarō’s soul disappear when the sea turtle returns to the sea?
4. Is Omito reborn as the sea turtle? Or as the hermit crab? What is the significance of each?
5. Do you think Uta really has a special gift? Or do you think she only imagines seeing Kōtarō’s soul?
6. Why does the community decide to keep the incident secret? Why don’t they tell the doctor?
7. If Omito was reborn as a hermit crab, why did she enter Kōtarō’s mouth?
8. Why does Uta think that the āman might be the reincarnation of Omito?
9. Does Uta’s father have supernatural power like her? Why evidence supports this position?
10. If Uta has supernatural power, why isn’t her prayer answered at the end of the story? What is Medoruma trying to suggest?
11. Works Cited
Bouterey, Susan. “Medoruma Shun no Okinawa” [Medoruma Shun’s Okinawa]. Tokyo: Kagebunsho, 2011. 162-232.
Hamasaki, Moriyasu, and Prochaska, Isabelle. “Yuta to supirichuarukea: Okinawa no minkan shinkō to supirichuaru na genjitsu o megutte” [Yuta and Spiritual Care: Dispute Over Okinawan Folk Beliefs and the Reality of the Spiritual]. Ed. Moriyasu Hamasaki, Kōichi Miyagi, Isao Ashimine and Isabelle Prochaska. Okinawa: Bōdāinku Ltd., 15 July. 2011.
Katamoto, Eri. “Noro to yuta no inori ni kansuru ichi kōsatsu.” Okinawa International University Journal of Scientific Research. Okinawa: Okinawa International University Society of Scientific Research. Dec. 2006. 45-64.
Kojima, Yōsuke. “Medoruma Shun mabuigumi iyasarenu yamai.” Project Report of Research of Chiba University Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Chiba, Japan. Research of Chiba University Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences. 10 Mar. 2009.
Miyagi, Kikuzō. “Mabuigimi to Tamayobai: Yamato, Ryūkyū, Hikakubunkaron.” Okinawa: Bōdāinku Ltd., 20 Mar. 2005. Print.
Medoruma, Shun. “Mabuigumi” [Spirit Stuffing]. Mabuigumi. Tokyo: Asahibunko, 1999. 7-45.
---. “Mabuigumi” [Spirit stuffing]. Trans. Kyle Ikeda. Living Spirit: Literature and Resurgence in Okinawa. Ed. Frank Stewart, and Katsunori Yamazato. Pic. Yasuo Higa. Honolulu: Univ of Hawaii Press, 31 July 2011. 112-134.
Meiō University. “Kojima Yōsuke purofīru” [Yōsuke Kojima’s profile]. Web.7 Oct. 2018. https://www.meio-u.ac.jp/research/scholars/kojimayousuke/.
Okivel. “Okinawa ni okeru niraikanai towa?” [What is Niraikanai in Okinawa?]. Web. 27 Dec. 2016. http://okivel.com/niraikanai/.
Saito, Hiroshi. “Kyōzai toshite yomu Medoruma Shun Mabuigumi” [Reading Medoruma Shun’s Mabuigumi as a Textbook]. Literary and Artistic Attainment Japanese Literature. Tochigi, Japan: Society of Literary and Artistic Attainment Japanese Literature. Mar. 2008. Print. 145-153.
Suzuki, Tomoyuki. Me no oku ni tsuitaterareta kotoba no mori [A Forest of Words, Thrust into the Eyes]. Tokyo: Shōbunsha, 2013. Print.
Wakugami, Motoo. “Okinawa minzoku bunkaron: Saishi, Shinkō, Utaki” [Okinawan Folklore Cultural Theory: Religious Services, Beliefs, and Utaki]. Okinawa: Yōju Shorin, 2000. Print.
Wikipedia contributors. “Shun Medoruma.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 May. 2018. Web. 16 Jan. 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shun_Medoruma.
Original Report by Mai Matsukawa. Edited and revised by Kasumi Sminkey.