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Wu () are spirit mediums who have practiced divination, prayer, sacrifice, rainmaking, and healing in Chinese traditions dating back over 3,000 years. ==The word ''wu''== The Chinese word ''wu'' 巫 "spirit medium; shaman; shamaness; sorcerer; doctor; proper names" was first recorded during the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600-1046 BCE), when a ''wu'' could be either sex. During the late Zhou Dynasty (1045-256 BCE) ''wu'' was used to specify "female shaman; sorceress" as opposed to ''xi'' 覡 "male shaman; sorcerer" (which first appears in the 4th century BCE ''Guoyu''). Other sex-differentiated shaman names include ''nanwu'' 男巫 for "male shaman; sorcerer; wizard"; and ''nüwu'' 女巫, ''wunü'' 巫女, ''wupo'' 巫婆, and ''wuyu'' 巫嫗 for "female shaman; sorceress; witch". ''Wu'' is used in compounds like ''wugu'' 巫蠱 "sorcery; cast harmful spells", ''wushen'' 巫神 or ''shenwu'' 神巫 (with ''shen'' "spirit; god") "wizard; sorcerer", and ''wuxian'' 巫仙 (with ''xian'' "immortal; alchemist") "immortal shaman". The word ''tongji'' 童乩 (lit. "youth diviner") "shaman; spirit-medium" is a near-synonym of ''wu''. Chinese uses phonetic transliteration to distinguish native ''wu'' from "Siberian shaman": ''saman'' 薩滿 or ''saman'' 薩蠻. "Shaman" is occasionally written with Chinese Buddhist transcriptions of Shramana "wandering monk; ascetic": ''shamen'' 沙門, ''sangmen'' 桑門, or ''sangmen'' 喪門. Joseph Needham (1954:134) suggests "shaman" was transliterated ''xianmen'' 羨門 in the name of Zou Yan's disciple Xianmen Gao 羨門高 (or Zigao 子高). He quotes the ''Shiji'' that Emperor Qin Shi Huang (r. 221-210 BCE), "wandered about on the shore of the eastern sea, and offered sacrifices to the famous mountains and the great rivers and the eight Spirits; and searched for ''xian'' "immortals", (), and the like." Needham (1954:134) compares two later Chinese terms for "shaman": ''shanman'' 珊蛮, which described the Jurchen leader Wanyan Xiyin, and ''sizhu'' 司祝, which was used for imperial Manchu shamans during the Qing Dynasty. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wu (shaman)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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