photo by L. Miller
In the 3rd century, a mysterious queen ruled the Kingdom of Yamatai (modern-day Japan) with a wise and steady hand. Her reign lasted almost 70 years – but what can we really know about her, when her people never wrote anything down?
Anthropologist Laura Miller introduces Olivia to this elusive ancient queen.
Read more about Queen Himiko’s continuing “rebirth” as a powerful cultural icon in Laura Miller’s fascinating articles “Searching for Charisma: Queen Himiko” and “Rebranding Himiko: The Shaman Queen of Ancient History.”
photo copyright 国土交通省
photo by L. Miller
photo by L. Miller
photo by Gary Todd
artist Haru Usagi
photo by L. Miller
photo by L. Miller
Laura Miller is the Ei’ichi Shibusawa-Seigo Arai Endowed Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of History at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She has published widely on Japan, including more than 90 articles and book chapters on Japanese culture and language. The topics have included English loanwords in Japanese subcultural girls’ slang and script innovations (gyaru moji), self-photography (purikura), and the Elevator Girl occupation. Among her six authored or edited books are Occult Hunting and Supernatural Play in Japan (University of Hawai’i Press, 2025) and Diva Nation: Female Icons from Japanese Cultural History (Miller and Copeland, eds. University of California Press, 2018).
Music featured in this episode includes:
“Kokū” performed by Yasuda Shinpu
“Etenraku” (Gagaku) performed by Gordon K. Inoue
Traditional Shinto music performed by Sotetsu Tanabe and Shigeo Fujino
“Burning Desire, Unfulfilled” composed and performed by Nexus
Your purchases help support the podcast!
