{{Short description|Traditional Japanese esoteric cosmology and divination system}} {{Italic title}} [[Image:Abe Seimei.jpg|right|thumb|Abe no Seimei, a famous {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}}]] {{nihongo||陰陽道|'''Onmyōdō'''|extra=also {{transliteration|ja|In'yōdō}}, {{lit|The Way of Yin and Yang}}}} is a technique that uses knowledge of astronomy and calendars to divine good fortune in terms of date, time, direction and general personal affairs, originating from the philosophy of the yin-yang and the five elements.<ref name='kotobank'/>
The philosophy of yin and yang and ''wuxing'' was introduced to Japan at the beginning of the 6th century, and, influenced by Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, evolved into the earliest system of {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}} around the late 7th century. In 701, the Taiho Code established the departments and posts of {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}} who practiced {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}} in the Imperial Court, and {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}} was institutionalized.<ref name='tokyo'>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/17679|script-title=ja:晴明直系 陰陽道 途絶の危機 平安から1000年後継なく|publisher=Tokyo Shimbun|date=29 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115140450/https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/17679|archive-date=2021-01-15}}</ref><ref name='kotobank'>{{Cite web |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%99%B0%E9%99%BD%E9%81%93-42038|title=Onmyōdō|publisher=Asahi Shimbun|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112122504/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%99%B0%E9%99%BD%E9%81%93-42038|accessdate=7 February 2021|archive-date=2021-01-12}}</ref> From around the 9th century during the Heian period, {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}} interacted with Shinto and {{nihongo|Goryō worship|御霊信仰}} in Japan, and developed into a system unique to Japan.<ref name='hokkaido2'>{{Cite web |url=http://s-ir.sap.hokkyodai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/123456789/9590/1/sap-kokugo-22-01.pdf|script-title=ja:陰陽道の式神の成立と変遷 文学作品の呪詛にも触れつつ|pages=2–15|author=Wakako Nakajima|publisher=Hokkaido University of Education|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218111057/http://s-ir.sap.hokkyodai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/123456789/9590/1/sap-kokugo-22-01.pdf|accessdate=11 February 2021|archive-date=2020-12-18}}</ref><ref name ="koyama2020">{{Cite book|last=Koyama|first=Satoko|script-title=ja:前近代日本の病気治療と呪術|publisher=Shibunkaku Shuppan|year=2020|isbn=978-4784219889|pages=172–173}}</ref> Abe no Seimei, who was active during the Heian period, is the most famous {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}} ({{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}} practitioner) in Japanese history and has appeared in various Japanese literature in later years. {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}} was under the control of the imperial government, and later its courtiers, the Tsuchimikado family, until the middle of the 19th century, at which point it became prohibited as superstition.<ref name='tokyo'/><ref name='kotobank'/>
==Development== In the 5th and 6th centuries, the principles of yin-yang and the Five Elements were transmitted to Japan from China and Baekje along with Buddhism and Confucianism, particularly by the obscure Korean monk Gwalleuk. Yin-yang and the Five Elements, as well as the divisions of learning to which they were linked – astronomy, calendar-making, the reckoning of time, divination, and studies based on observation of nature – were amalgamated into fortune telling. This process of judging auspicious or harmful signs present in the natural world was accepted into Japanese society as a technique for predicting good or bad fortune in the human world. Such techniques were known mostly by Buddhist monks and physicians<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ho |first1=Peng Yoke |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm37205315 |title=A brief history of Chinese medicine |last2=Lisowski |first2=F. Peter |date=1997 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-02-2803-3 |edition=2nd |location=Singapore; River Edge, N.J |oclc=37205315 }}</ref> from mainland Asia, who were knowledgeable in reading and writing Chinese. Over time, demand from members of the Imperial Court who believed that {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}} divination would be helpful in decision-making, made it necessary for the laity to perform the art, and {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}} began to appear around the middle of the 7th century. Under the Taiho Code enacted in the early 8th century, the departments of the Imperial Court to which {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}} belonged were defined by law.<ref name='kotobank'/>
From around the 9th century during the Heian period, {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}} interacted with Shinto and {{transliteration|ja|Goryō}} worship in Japan, and developed into a system unique to Japan.<ref name='hokkaido2'/><ref name='kotobank'/> Until then, {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}} emphasized divination for policy decisions by high government officials, but since the Heian period, {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}} has emphasized magic and religious services such as warding off evil for preventing natural disasters and epidemics and for the productiveness of grain, as well as curses against opponents.<ref name='hokkaido2'/> Because Shinto places importance on purity, Shinto priests were required to perform {{transliteration|ja|misogi}} (ritual purification) and fast before performing these religious services, so their activities were restricted. On the other hand, since {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}} did not have to perform {{transliteration|ja|misogi}} or fast, they were able to deal with {{transliteration|ja|kegare}} (uncleanliness) more easily, and they expanded their activities beyond the support of Shinto priests.<ref name='hokkaido2'/> It gradually spread from the Imperial Court to the general public.<ref name ="koyama2020"/> In the 10th century {{nihongo|Kamo no Tadayuki|賀茂 忠行}} and his son {{nihongo|Kamo no Yasunori|賀茂 保典}}, made great advancements in {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}}, astronomy and calendar science.<ref name='kotobank'/> From among their students emerged {{nihongo|Abe no Seimei|安倍清明}}, who displayed superior skills in the divining arts of {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}}, by which he gained an uncommon amount of trust from the court society. Tadayuki and Yasunori passed on their skills in astronomy to Seimei while their advances in calendar-making went to Yasunori's son. From the end of the Heian period into the Middle Ages, astronomy and calendar science were completely subsumed into {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}}, and the Abe and Kamo families came to dominate the art in the Imperial Court.<ref name='kotobank'/>
=={{transliteration|ja|Onmyōji}}== {{further|Onmyōji}} {{nihongo||陰陽師|Onmyōji|extra=also {{transliteration|ja|In'yōji}}}} was one of the classifications of civil servants belonging to the {{ill|Yin-Yang Bureau|lt=Bureau of Onmyō|ja|陰陽寮}} in ancient Japan's {{transliteration|ja|ritsuryo}} system. People with this title were professional practitioners of {{transliteration|ja|Onmyōdō}}.<ref name='tokyo'/>
{{transliteration|ja|Onmyōji}} were specialists in magic and divination. Their court responsibilities ranged from tasks such as keeping track of the calendar, to mystical duties such as divination and protection of the capital from evil spirits. They could divine auspicious or harmful influences in the earth, and were instrumental in the moving of capitals. It is said that an {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}} could also summon and control {{transliteration|ja|shikigami}}.<ref name='hokkaido1'>{{Cite web |url=http://s-ir.sap.hokkyodai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/123456789/9590/1/sap-kokugo-22-01.pdf|script-title=ja:陰陽道の式神の成立と変遷 文学作品の呪詛にも触れつつ|pages=1|author=Wakako Nakajima|publisher=Hokkaido University of Education|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218111057/http://s-ir.sap.hokkyodai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/123456789/9590/1/sap-kokugo-22-01.pdf|access-date=6 February 2021|archive-date=2020-12-18}}</ref> During the Heian period the nobility organized their lives around practices recommended by {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}}. The practice of "lucky and unlucky directions" provides an example. Depending on the season, time of day, and other circumstances, a particular direction might be bad luck for an individual. If one's house was located in that direction, such an individual was advised not to go back directly to his house but had to "change direction" ({{transliteration|ja|katatagae}}), by going in a different direction and lodging there. Such a person would not dare to go in the forbidden direction, but stayed where they were, even if that resulted in absence from the court, or passing up invitations from influential people.<ref name='hokkaido2'/>
Famous {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}} include Kamo no Yasunori and Abe no Seimei (921–1005). After Seimei's death, the Emperor Ichijō had a shrine erected at his home in Kyoto.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210329151039/https://www.seimeijinja.jp/history/ Seimei Shrine.]</ref>
{{transliteration|ja|Onmyōji}} had political clout during the Heian period, but in later times when the imperial court fell into decline, their state patronage was lost completely. In modern-day Japan, {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}} are defined as a type of priest, and although there are many who claim to be mediums and spiritualists, the {{transliteration|ja|onmyōji}} continues to be a hallmark occult figure.
==Later history== Onmyōdō was officially abolished in 1870 by the {{interlanguage link|Tensha Shinto Prohibition Ordinance|ja|天社禁止令}}, but it was permitted again after the propagation of religious freedom and the abolition of State Shinto in 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Encyclopedia of Shinto詳細 |url=https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9907 |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=國學院大學デジタルミュージアム |language=ja}}</ref> A new organization for {{interlanguage link|Tensha Tsuchimikado Shinto|ja|天社土御門神道}}, considered the modern form of Onmyōdō, was established in 1954.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Makoto |first1=Hayashi |last2=Luers |first2=Dylan |last3=林淳 |date=2013 |title=The Development of Early Modern Onmyōdō |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41955534 |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=151–167 |jstor=41955534 |issn=0304-1042}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=備忘録 天社土御門神道 本庁 |url=http://kashomemorandum.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-137.html |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=kashomemorandum.blog.fc2.com}}</ref> {{As of|2023}}, the head was Yoshihito Fujita.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 October 2015 |title=天社土御門神道本庁 |url=https://japanese-religions.com/jr4210005008880/ |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=JAPANESE RELIGIONS |language=ja}}</ref>
==See also== * Chinese alchemy * Chinese fortune telling * Chinese influence on Japanese culture * Dogū * Futomani * Haniwa * Hōko (doll) * Itako * ''Jujutsu Kaisen'', 2018 manga and anime series around onmyōdō practitioners * Konjin * Kokkuri * Ofuda * Omamori * Onmyōji * Omikuji * Senjafuda * Shikigami * Shugendō * ''Teito Monogatari'', popular 1985 historical fantasy novel which initiated the onmyōdō boom in current Japanese popular culture * Tengenjutsu (fortune telling) * Ukehi * Zuijin
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{Cite journal|last1=Hayashi|first1=Makoto|last2=Hayek|first2=Matthias|date=2013-05-01|title=Editors' Introduction: Onmyodo in Japanese History|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|doi=10.18874/jjrs.40.1.2013.1-18|issn=0304-1042|doi-access=free}} *Kin'ugyokuto-shū (金烏玉兎集/三国相伝陰陽輨轄簠簋内伝金烏玉兎集, "the collection book of the moon and the jade rabbit") * Senji Ryakketsu (占事略决, "the summary to judgements of divinations") by Abe no Seimei
==External links== {{wiktionary}} * [http://miko.org/~uraki/kuon/furu/explain/meisi/onmyouji/senji/senjiryakuketu.htm 占事略決](Big5 Chinese) Online text of Senji Ryakketsu. * [http://lovekeno.iza-yoi.net/rondo12.htm 金烏玉兎集巻第一] Online text of Kinugyokutoshū volume 1. {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onmyodo}} Category:Onmyōdō Category:Divination Category:Esoteric cosmology Category:Taoism in Japan Category:Religion in Japan Category:Eastern esotericism