F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-102

Shimakusarashi (Boundary Purification Rite of the Ryūkyū Islands)

シマクサラシ（琉球諸島の悪疫払い儀礼）しまくさらし

In communities across the Ryūkyū Archipelago — from Kudakajima off the southeastern coast of Okinawa's main island to the Miyako and Yaeyama Island chains far to the southwest — a boundary purification rite has been observed in the twelfth lunar month since at least the early modern period and in all probability considerably before. Its name, Shimakusarashi, is interpreted as 'causing the shima (settlement) to be cleansed' or 'to rot/purify' — the ambiguity of the verb kusarasu encoding the logic of controlled putrefaction as a form of sacred disinfection. The rite involves placing at the boundaries of the settlement — at the village entrance, near the communal well, at the shore — materials derived from cattle, pigs, or goats: blood, bones, scraps of flesh. These materials serve as a barrier: the epidemic diseases and malevolent spiritual forces approaching the settlement from outside are intercepted at the boundary, drawn to the animal matter, and thereby prevented from entering the community's living space. The form is a boundary rite (sakaime saishi) — one of the most fundamental categories of Japanese and Ryūkyūan folk religious practice, with parallels on the Japanese mainland in the dōsojin (boundary deity) and saigon festival traditions, though the Ryūkyūan form's use of animal material distinguishes it sharply from mainland equivalents. Research by Miyahira Moriaki of Okinawa International University has documented the rite's distribution, timing, and variant forms across the archipelago. Many communities have simplified or abandoned the practice following Meiji-era modernization; others continue it in adapted or complete form. This record is filed as editorial_status: candidate, reflecting the rite's distributed, variable, and in some cases non-public character.