I. Intro to Japanese Taoism: kanji for Tao (the Way) = Tô in Shintô (the Way of the Gods)

A. In Japan, Onmyôdô (Way of Yin and Yang) was a system of esoteric cosmology that combined natural science (as understood at the time), divination, and magic (including control, pacification, and exorcisms of supernatural beings), that develops parallel to esoteric Buddhist shamanic rituals of protection and exorcism.

1. Yin = vital energy of the earth (dark, moist, cold, passive, female priniciple of the universe)

2. Yang = vital energy of the heavens (bright, dry, hot, active, male principle of the universe)

3. Gogyô: 5 elements/phases (metal, water, wood, fire, earth)

4. Divination uses different combinations of yin and yang with five elements.

B. Onmyôdô was practiced by onmyôji (Yin-Yang Masters), who practiced divination and magic. Their jobs at the Bureau of Divination (Onmyôryô, established 7th century) included:

1. creating official calendar (astrology): determining auspicious and inauspicious days (still practiced today)

2. practicing geomancy (CH. feng shui; J. fusui)

a. auspicious siting of buildings to harness ki (vital energy)

1) as practiced today, this is now really just a popularized form of the modern Chinese feng shui

b. directional taboos for individuals on particular days at particular times (included also in calendar making; no longer practiced)

3. divination (especially with regard to omens, but also dream interpretation)

a. heavenly phenomena like comets, eclipses

b. tortoise shell divination (reading cracks in shell of an unusual tortoise)

c. any other unusual natural phenomena

d. unusual dreams

4. protecting the capital and court against evil spirits and curses

a. used purification (defensive) and exorcism (offensive) rituals

C. Onmyôji had their own rituals of pacification and exorcism, influenced by Chinese and Korean Taoist divination and rituals.

a. However, clearly lots of cross-influence between esoteric Buddhism and Onmyôdô: in both we have lots of mumbling of secret mantras and performing of secret hand gestures; the divination boards are also largely shared between esoteric Buddhism and Onmyôdô.

II. Abe no Seimei (921?-1005)

images of the Yin-Yang Master Abe no Seimei

A. Father was Abe no Yasuna, but not clear who the family was. Perhaps a descendant of the poet Abe no Nakamaro.

B. Disciple of Kamo no Tadayuki and his son, Kamo no Yasunori, both court onmyôji. Yasunori features in Japanese Tales #162, when at the age of nine he sees the demonic spirits that his father is exorcising through a purification ritual. This fortells that he will be a greater onmyôji than his father.

1. Abe no Seimei is responsible for astrology, divination, and purifcation as the head of the Bureau of Divination (and Abe family continues to have this role)

2. Yasunori's son takes over the creation of the official calendar (and the Kamo family continues to have this role)

C. Japanese Tales #59, 60, 62, 63 are about Seimei

1. #59 Seimei sees a crow drop filth on a young chamberlain and realizes the chamberlain has been cursed; saves him with protective spells and "unintelligible muttering"

2. #60 Seimei kills a frog with a blade of grass, impressing everyone. (In the film "Onmyôji," Seimei kills a butterfly, who turns out to be his shikigami)

3. #62 A older onmyôji comes to test Seimei, bringing his shikigami (which Tyler translates as "genies") disguised as young boys. Seimei guesses who he is, and makes his shikigami disappear. The older onmyôji asks to be Seimei's disciple.

a. Onmyôji like Abe no Seimei were thought to be able to control supernatural assistants (shikigami) to do their bidding. This idea that occult magicians (Taoist or Esoteric Buddhist) can control supernatural beings to do their bidding becomes important later on in popular legends and plays.

4. #63 Fujiwara no Michinaga (the most powerful Fujiwara at the time) is stopped from passing through a gate by his dog. Seimei ascertains that a curse has been laid by someone burying two cups (tied with twine and inscribed with the character for 1) in the ground at that spot. Thus the dog saved Michinaga (yay for dogs!).

D. After his death, his home becomes the Seimei Shrine, which still exists in Kyoto.

1. Everywhere in the shrine you can see the Seimei-pentacle (seiman), a five-pointed star that refers to the Five Elements/Phases. It is the crest of the Abe family, but unlikely that Abe no Seimei invented it, since its use prexisted him in Chinese Taoism (wuxing). (Note: the wuxing link is a good summary of Chinese Taoism, most of which also is used in Japanese Taoism or Onmyôdô)

E. In medieval period, legend develops that Seimei's father, Abe no Yasuna, married a fox named Kuzunoha. We will revisit this story when we study supernatural foxes Week 7. Both Noh and Kabuki plays develop from this story.

III. Abe no Seimei in Contemporary Popular Culture

Links (scroll down)

A. Film "Onmyôji" starrying Nomura Mansai (famous Kyogen actor)

1. Basic plot: the onmyôji Abe no Seimei and his aristocrat friend Hiromasa defend the Heian capital from a rival onmyôji named Dôson who wants to overthrow the Emperor.

2. Plot includes these "ghostly" elements (among others):

a. Prince Sawara (d. 785), who was exiled to Awaji Island and poisoned by the Fujiwara, was the first goryô for whom an court pacification ritual (goryô-e) was performed (in 863). See my pre-recorded lecture 2.

b. Prince Sawara is brought back to life as a goryô by the villainous onmyôji Dôson. Dôson appears under various other names (Dôma, Dôman, Ashiya no Michitaru) as the antagonist of Abe no Seimei and his father Abe no Yasuna in medieval tales and Kabuki plays.

c. Marriage politics and jealousy: Dôson encourages a wife of the Emperor, Sukuhime, to perform a ritual that turns her into an oni (demon), who apparently drinks blood.

d. Seimei wins in the end by first convincing Prince Sawara to give up his grudge, and then defeating Dôson in a final battle.

B. If this were a final class presentation, your job would be to figure out what was taken from premodern Japanese ghost stories, what was changed, and most importantly WHY DO YOU THINK THOSE CHANGES WERE MADE?

Again, in thinking about the contemporary film: who or what is the authorship, audience, genre, goal, historical moment in Japan (2001)?

1. What is changed/anachronistic to the Heian period?

a. angry ghost of Prince Sawara is visible

b. shikigami as beautiful young girls rather than short ugly male demons

c. The belief that a black magic ritual can be used to transform oneself into a demon is a medieval idea (13-15th c), eg. the Noh play Kanawa (The Iron Crown).

1) The notion that such demonic women were also vampires is late 20th c. (Sukuhime bites Hiromasa, implication that this will kill him or make him demonic)

d. The role of Aone as immortal defender of Prince Sawara's tomb, and Prince Sawara's pacification through her love

e. The use of the rite of Taizan-fukun, the Chinese god of the dead to bring back Hiromasa (no such ritual existed)

IV. Onmyôji in the Olympics and video games

Now going to look at another fun version of the Onmyôji movie, the ice skater Hanyu Yuzuru's Gold Medal performance of Seimei at the 2018 Winter Olympics.