Shrine maiden/Miko

Japanese: 巫女∥神子 - みこ

A religious sage who is possessed by various spirits, including gods and the dead, and who conveys their will to people. There is a distinction between male and female, and the former are written as 覡 and the latter as 覡. The Wamyōshō lists 覡 as KAMUNAKI and 覡 as ONOKOKAMUNAKI, which shows that the term originally came from a shrine maiden. There are many local names for shrine maidens who are active in different regions. The origin of the word is also unclear, with some theories including that it is a variation of 覡 (child of a god), a respectful term for the child of a nobleman, and that it was seen as a god itself because of their role as an intermediary between gods and humans and conveying the will of the gods to people.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

神霊･死霊をはじめもろもろの精霊の憑依をうけて，その意思を人々に託宣する呪術宗教者。男女を区別して前者を覡，後者を巫と記す。《和名抄》に巫を加牟奈岐（かむなき），覡を乎乃古加牟奈岐（おのこかむなき）としているところをみると本来，巫女がもとであったことがわかる。各地域で活躍する巫女にはそれぞれ地域ごとの呼称が非常に多い。また語源についても神の子を意味する〈みかんこ〉の転としたり，貴人の子を敬って称する語としたり，神と人との間に介在して神意を人々に伝達する役がらから神そのものとみられたとする説などあって定かでない。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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