Mikos in anime and manga

A miko (巫女), or shrine maiden, is a young priestess who works at a Shinto shrine. They are ubiquitous in Japanese pop culture and the anime fandom, appearing in numerous media over the years

Miko in works of fiction
Miko often appear in modern popular culture works, such as novels, comics, anime, and games, and have become a type of Stock character. In some cases, the word "miko" even appears in the title of the work (see the list of works below). In many cases, the priestesses in these works are said to have strong psychic abilities, such as purifying demons.

In cases where the miko appears in the work as the main character or as a leading role, formal Miko costumes are in the minority, and in many cases, the miko wears a modified form of clothing called "miko-fuku" (see below). On the other hand, in works set in Japan, for example, when a scene of Hatsumode to a Shinto shrine is depicted, a shrine maiden may appear as a point of interest to create the atmosphere of a shrine. In such cases, the miko often wears a formal shrine maiden costume (or a similar costume). In such cases, the miko is used as a symbol of the shrine. In recent years, maidens have become the subject of moe culture, along with Maid.

In addition to the priestesses of Japanese Shintoism, there are also the priestesses of the goddess Ishtar, Kai, in The Tower of Druaga, Nakoruru and Mina Makagami in Samurai Shodown, Tales of Mina Makagamina, Nakoruru and Makagamina Mina in Tales of Symphonia, Colette in Tales of Symphonia, and the Shivuras who serve Tempus Paticum in Simoom.

There are also works that feature evil maidens who serve evil gods and goddesses as Antagonists, such as Queen Himika in Steel Jeeg, Rashoujin Mizuki in Samurai Shodown, and the Twilight Maidens in Shrine of the Morning Mist (anime version).

History
Until the 1980s, the character often appeared as a sub-character with Occult-like elements in many of her sub-characters. A typical example of such a miko is "Saya-chan" from the action shooting game KiKaiKai (Taito).

In the 1990s, as the number of works featuring "fighting heroines" increased, fighting maidens with a stronger aspect as Demon Masters began to appear. The most famous examples are Nagomi Yagumo from Silent Möbius and Sailor Mars from Sailor Moon. Sailor Mars]] is one of the main character teams.

In the mid to late 1990s, miko began to be seen as heroines in Bishōjo games. Most of them have long black hair and have the characteristics of an ideal Yamato Nadeshiko. It was around this time that maidens began to be recognized as a so-called moe attribute. Eventually, in 1999, a simulation video game called "War Miko -Vestal virgin-" (Alice Soft) has been released.

In real life, Maid cafes with Waitresss wearing Miko clothing and Izakayas with Miko Izakayas, such as the Miko Izakaya "Gouten", appeared around the end of the 1990s.

In the 2000s, it became not uncommon to see maidens appearing as heroines in so-called gal games, bishojo manga, and anime, with such titles as "Miko of the Morning Mist" and "Kannazuki no Miko". There are also a number of works with straightforward miko themes, such as "Saki". There are also a number of works that focus directly on miko, such as the students of Eimizu Girls' High School in Saki, who are not professional miko but wear miko costumes, or the Ship Musume in Fleet Kore Kuken, who are dressed in miko costumes.

Miko-related hobbies
Some people create doujinshi illustrations of shrine maidens in the style of comics, anime, or games, or doujinshi featuring shrine maidens as a hobby, and publish them at events or on the Internet. There are also people who make Model figures and Doll costumes in the shape of maidens, and show them at events or publish their photos on the Internet.

In addition to fictional maidens, real maidens and women wearing cosplays of maidens can also be the object of moe, and during the Hatsumode season, some people visit shrines around Japan to take pictures of maidens.

These hobbies are sometimes extended to include Kendo, Aikido, Kyudo, and female students (graduation ceremonies), as they are women who wear Hakama as well as miko. It is not uncommon for these, including shrine maidens, to be lumped together under the name "Hakamakko".

Some anonymous forums refer to fictional maidens as "rainbow maidens" and real or cosplay maidens as "disastrous maidens". .

Miko clothing
In subcultures, costumes for cosplay and dolls that resemble Miko costumes are often called "miko clothes" to distinguish them from the real thing. These are popular along with, for example, maid outfits, which are well known as cosplay costumes. For this reason, as well as maid costumes, miko costumes and miko-fuku character cosplay costumes are sometimes sold at cosplay stores. However, in order to reduce the cost, inexpensive commercial products are often made of thinner fabric, the upper waist stitching is omitted compared to the real thing, and the sewing is often lax, making the costumes less durable.

The differences between so-called miko costumes and real-life miko costumes are that Chihaya and white Kosode come with cutouts in the style of hunting clothes and suiboshi, and large and small needle stitching on the sleeves ("Inuyasha" Kikyo), and that footwear is Inuyasha, Kikyo), Sneakers, Boots, and other footwear other than Zori (Naori Hikawa in With You ~Mitsumeteitai~), the Scarlet Hakama is an extreme miniature length (Luca in CONCEPTION Give birth to my child! This is because the design of the hakama is more flamboyant and the degree of exposure is increased. In some extreme cases, such as in [[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (Female Samurai) and Labyrinth of the World Tree II (Bushido), the upper half of the body is not only sleeveless but also Sarashi.

In addition, aside from works such as "White x Red", whose title focuses on the color of the miko's costume, the color of the hakama is not restricted to scarlet in many cases ("Kannazuki no Miko", Himemiya Chikane), and even in works from the previous century, when there was little material on miko costumes ("Urusei In addition, in some works from the previous century (such as Sakura in Urusei Yatsura and Sayo-chan in KiKi KaiKai), where there was little material on shrine maidens' costumes, there are examples of martial arts hakama with a waist board and no upper stitching thread at the waist, which sometimes deviate from the historical shrine maidens' costumes (especially the gyotan hakama in works set before the Meiji (era)).

In the preface to Kanda Myojin's book "Miko-san Nyumon" (Introduction to Miko-san, Beginner's Edition), he writes: "As a shrine, we were shocked to see cosplay miko walking around town with their own faces. 」As stated in the article, there are some Priest people who do not like these cosplay miko uniforms, so it can be said that this is a costume that needs to be worn at the right time and place.

Works in which miko appear
The following is a list of works in which miko appear. In alphabetical order.

However, in the case of media mix works, basically only the original work or the media in which it is developed as the center is mentioned. Works in boldface type mean that the miko is a particularly important element in the work.

For the general public

 * HAPPY★LESSON
 * Miko with Blue Hair (『青い髪のミコ』)
 * "Inukami!"
 * The Rumored Mini Miko series (『うわさのミニ巫女』シリーズ)
 * Orakuru☆Himiko-san'  (『おらくる☆ヒミコさん』)
 * God! Buddha! Fox-sama! series' ( 『神様!仏様!きつね様!』シリーズ)
 * Calendar Girlz OVER * Calendar Girlz OVER (『カレンダーがーるずOVER』)
 * Weather Genie (『気象精霊記』)
 * Sasami-san@Ganbaranai
 * Slayers series
 * Teito Monogatari
 * Flowers in the Sky (『天涯の花』)
 * Aria the Scarlet Ammo
 * Vorpal Bunny #2 (『ボーパルバニー#2』)
 * Holy Maiden (『ホーリーメイデン』)

Adult

 * ' Bokumiko! 〜The Miko and Mikoto's Demon Training' (『ボクミコ! 〜巫女とミコトの退魔修行〜』)
 * ' Our Home's Fox Deity'

For general use

 * 『BLOOD-C』
 * 『Ghost Sweeper Mikami』
 * 『Star Driver』
 * 『Shrine of the Morning Mist』
 * 『Ikki Tousen』
 * 『Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha』
 * 『Inuyasha』
 * 『Uta Kata』
 * 『Umi Monogatari』
 * 『Urusei Yatsura』
 * 『Cardcaptor Sakura』
 * 『Reborn! 』
 * 『Kamen no Maid Guy』
 * 『Kannazuki no Miko』
 * 『Gingitsune』
 * 『Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear』
 * 『Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majo to』
 * 『Saki』
 * 『Simoun (TV series)』
 * 『Shamanic Princess』
 * 『Shaman King』
 * 『Sekirei』
 * 『Master of Martial Hearts』
 * 『Fafner in the Azure』
 * 『Tsugumomo』
 * 『Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle』
 * 『Tokyo Ravens』
 * 『Tokyo Ravens RED AND WHITE』
 * 『Nagasarete Airantō』
 * 『Natsuiro Kiseki』
 * 『VS Knight Ramune & 40 Fire』
 * 『Hayate the Combat Butler』
 * 『Sailor Moon』
 * 『Fushigi Yûgi』
 * 『Negima! Magister Negi Magi』
 * 『UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie』
 * 『Lucky☆Star』
 * 『Love Hina』

TRPG

 * 『Etrian Odyssey (video game)』
 * 『Night Wizard!』

Game Book

 * 『Queen's Blade』

Games for the general public

 * 『Asura's Wrath』
 * 『Arcana Heart』
 * 『Ys Seven』
 * 『Kantai Collection』
 * 『KiKi KaiKai』
 * 『CONCEPTION』
 * 『STEINS;GATE』
 * 『Samurai Shodown』Series
 * 『Shikigami no Shiro』
 * 『Virgin Fleet』
 * 『Etrian Odyssey』
 * 『Samurai Aces』&『Sengoku Blade』
 * 『Touhou Project』
 * 『Higurashi When They Cry』
 * 『Disgaea』
 * 『Fatal Frame』

adult games

 * 『North Wind』
 * 『Rance』Series
 * 『Wind -a breath of heart-』
 * 『Moonlight Lady』
 * 『Prism Ark』
 * 『Hoshizora no Memoria』
 * 『Miko Miko Nurse』
 * 『Yosuga no Sora』