Knowra Onmyōdō Onmyōdō Onmyōdō is a Japanese system of divination, ritual, and cosmology built around yin-yang and five-phase theories, adapted through Buddhist, Daoist, and native practices.
Yin and yang : A Chinese cosmological framework describing complementary forces whose interaction shapes change. Onmyōdō organized divination and ritual around this framework’s account of changing conditions.
Divination : The practice of seeking knowledge of hidden or future matters through signs, procedures, or supernatural insight. Onmyōdō used calendrical and cosmological calculations to interpret uncertain events.
Tang dynasty : A Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 618 to 907 and fostered influential institutions, religions, and scholarship. Japanese missions and texts transmitted continental calendrical and cosmological learning during this era.
Abe no Seimei : A Japanese Onmyōji of the tenth century who became the best-known figure associated with Onmyōdō. Later stories made Seimei the exemplary practitioner of court divination and ritual.
Tsuchimikado Yasumasa : A Japanese Onmyōji and court official of the late Heian period, remembered in accounts of court divination. Historical and literary portrayals of practitioners shaped later ideas about Onmyōdō’s courtly role.
Wu Xing : A Chinese system of five phases—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water—used to interpret processes and relationships. Its cycles supplied correspondences for Onmyōdō calendars, divination, and ritual.
Japanese astrology : Astrological practices in Japan that interpret celestial patterns in relation to earthly events and human affairs. Onmyōdō incorporated astronomical observation and astrological judgments into court expertise.
Japanese missions to Tang China : Official Japanese diplomatic and scholarly missions sent to Tang China between the seventh and ninth centuries. They helped convey the Chinese knowledge later incorporated into Onmyōdō.
Kamo no Tadayuki : A tenth-century Japanese court specialist in astronomy and yin-yang divination, traditionally associated with Abe no Seimei’s training. His family’s expertise helped establish hereditary lines of court Onmyōdō practice.
Konjaku Monogatarishū : A Japanese collection of Buddhist and secular tales compiled around the late Heian period. Its stories preserve supernatural episodes that connect Onmyōji with court and popular life.
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