Abe no Seimei
Japanese · mortal · mid heian · mortal
He was a real official of the Bureau of Yin and Yang with a documented career in calendrical astronomy and divination, and he is also the greatest magician in Japanese literature — the two facts are not in tension, because the job was the magic. The folklore makes him the son of a fox, which would make his most famous adversary a relative; the treatments consulted report that tradition without endorsing it and so does this record. His shrine in Kyoto is on the site of his house and is still busy.
Domains
- divination
- exorcism
Relations
- ally: Minamoto no Yorimitsu
- enemy: Tamamo-no-Mae
Sources
- Reference treatments of Abe no Seimei, onmyōdō and Tamamo-no-Mae.