The phenomenon of impurity at the village border and in the process of delimitation

Abstract

The inner world of the village is an independent universe which faces the unknown and irregular world lying outside the village border. Anything that comes through time and space from this outer dimension should be regarded as an impure existence. The definiton of impurity is closely related to the borderline, because it is a special, transcendent space in which the powers of the two realms, the holiness of the kami and the outer world’s impurity, are connected to each other. In order to purge the impurity or evil powers that could easily bring damage to the village, the inhabitants always had to perform rituals at the border. People who crossed the borderline and did not undergo the necessary purification or originally did not belong to the community at all, were avoided in fear and discriminated by the other members of the group. The reason behind the discrimination was not the impurity itself but the effect it might cause: in the worst case it could have destroyed the whole village.