Research source

Close to Kyambu there lives a medicine man of the name of Kamiri wa Itherero who is said to be one of the most…

Date of account: Published 1922
Source: Bantu Beliefs and Magic With particular reference to the Kikuyu and Kamba tribes of Kenya Colony; together with some reflections on East Africa after the war
Reference: Bantu Beliefs and Magic With particular reference to the Kikuyu and Kamba tribes of Kenya Colony; together with some reflections on East Africa after the war · selected passage 109
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-25

Record summary

Close to Kyambu there lives a medicine man of the name of Kamiri wa Itherero who is said to be one of the most renowned of all Kikuyu

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

Close to Kyambu there lives a medicine man of the name of Kamiri wa Itherero who is said to be one of the most renowned of all Kikuyu. Like most medicine men, Kamiri is possessed of more character than most of his countrymen, and this is shown by his manner and appearance to a far greater extent than is usually the case among other natives. He is one of the few members of the senior generation of Maina, which in itself is a claim to veneration; this means that he has practically withdrawn from the council of elders, and that he must be a man of considerable age. Yet Kamiri looks younger and better preserved than many an elder of the Mwangi generation. This may possibly be due to his temperate habits, for it is said that he has never in his life touched intoxicating liquors.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

Lattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.

Investigate related details with Anomaly Graph’s account-based search, or read how matching and provenance work.