The Hou Han Shuu contains mention of an interesting Yayoi maritime travel practice: that of the professional abstainer.
“When [the ancient Japanese] go on voyages across the sea to visit China, they always select a man who does not arrange his hair, does not rid himself of fleas, lets his clothing get as dirty as it will, does not eat meat, and does not approach women. This man behaves like a mourner and is known as the fortune keeper. When the voyage turns out propitious, they all lavish on him slaves and other valuables. In case there is disease or mishap, they kill him, saying that he was not scrupulous in his duties” (Totman’s “A History of Japan”, page 44).
Interestingly, in Kontu, Papua New Guinea, there is a practice remaining from ancient times called “shark calling“, where a village magician will capture a shark with a noose-like apparatus from his canoe and beat the shark to death with a club. The shark will then be brought back to the village and both eaten and used for rituals. The shark has a spritual quality that connects the villagers to their ancestors. The Kontu deity Moroa created sharks, caught the first shark, and passed down the “shark calling” magic to human beings.
The “shark caller” abstains from sex, sleeping in the same bed as his wife, showering, and any contact with stray animal dung around the village for a set period of time.
His abstentions are to purify himself in advance for the magical ritual and to enhance the magic, itself.
If you’ve read the first volume in the Cambridge History of Japan, the possibility of Southeast Asian influence on early Japanese mythology is surely a possibility. Furthermore, if you side with those that believe that the Japanese language has a Malayo-Polynesian origin, then the similarities mentioned above are thought-provoking.
There are many similarities between cultures around the world. Some of those similarities are due to contact relations, while others are coincidence.
