Seimei Shrine in Kyoto: The Enchantments of Japan's Yin-Yang Master

The story begins in Shinoda no Mori, a forest in present-day Osaka. Nobleman Abe no Yasuna was praying at a shrine there when a fox pursued by hunters ran to him.

He helped it to escape - enraged, the hunters attacked him. As he lay there gravely wounded, a woman named Kuzunoha - Kudzu Leaves - came to his aid, staying with him even after he healed. From their union, a child was born. But happiness has a short tether in folktales.

One autumn day, when the boy was five, Kuzunoha’s secret slipped: her tail unfurled. Her son glimpsed the truth - his mother was no mortal but a fox spirit. Bound by the laws that divide realms, she left, inscribing on a shoji screen a farewell poem:

If you miss me, come seek me out in Izumi, in the forest of Shinoda - the other side of Kuzunoha.

The last part of the poem, 'Shinoda no mori no urami Kuzunoha' - folds wordplay into sorrow. Urami can be read as 'resentment' but also as 'the under, or other, side' - when kudzu leaves are blown about by the wind, they reveal their pale underside. The white fox's wish was clear: that her son not resent her for leaving.

The story does not end at the screen’s parting verse. Taking his little son with him, Yasuna searched the forest of Shinoda, calling for Kuzunoha.

Deep in the woods, he felt a sudden urge to turn - when he did so, he saw a fox gazing at them with tears in its eyes.

Realizing the truth, he cried out: 'With that form, you'll frighten our child - please, return once more to Kuzunoha.'

At his voice, the fox bent its head toward a nearby pond and beheld its own reflection. In that instant, it vanished and Kuzunoha stood again before them.

'I am a fox who dwells in this forest,' she said. 'Because of your kindness, I have served you. But now that I have returned to being a fox, I can no longer remain in the human world.'

Her son clung to her in tears. She soothed him, pressing a white jewel into his hand as a keepsake. With sorrow, she returned to her true form and vanished into the forest.

The child left behind would one day serve emperors as Abe no Seimei, soothsayer and court magician extraordinaire.

The Arcane Lore of Yin and Yang

Abe no Seimei lived in the Heian period (794-1185), when the imperial court relied on onmyodo - the Way of Yin and Yang - as a framework to understand the invisible forces shaping their world.

Onmyodo was not magic in the modern sense. It was the applied science of its time, a synthesis of Chinese philosophy and local beliefs.

Its roots stretch back to the 5th and 6th centuries, when monks and scholars carried the ideas of yin and yang and the Five Elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) from China and Baekje into Japan, along with Buddhism and Confucianism.

These principles - originally used to interpret the balance of nature - were applied to astronomy, calendar-making and divination. By observing the heavens and the seasons, one could identify auspicious and inauspicious days, the fortunate or dangerous directions to travel, and the hidden reasons behind natural disasters or personal misfortune.

In 701, the Ying-Yang Bureau, or Onmyoryo, was established and staffed with civil servants known as onmyoji.

By the 9th century, Onmyodo had begun to fuse with Shinto practices and the worship of goryo - vengeful spirits rehabilitated as deities - making it uniquely Japanese. What began as an imported cosmology grew into an indigenous system that combined Taoist, Buddhist and Shinto influences.

For the aristocracy of Heian-kyo, as Kyoto was known then, Onmyodo was the architecture of safety. Nobles lived by its dictates in daily life, to the point of changing their routes home to avoid unlucky directions. Even a haircut could not be undertaken without asking an onmyoji for an auspicious date.

Onmyodo touched every sphere of life:

• Medical services: Illnesses were understood as disturbances caused by hexes, spirits or elemental imbalance. Rituals served as both exorcism and psychotherapy, easing mind and body.
• Climate and disaster control: Droughts, floods and epidemics were framed as heavenly omens. Onmyoji performed rituals to summon rain and to rid the land of disease.
• Urban planning: The capital itself was mapped out through the lens of yin-yang geography. The northeast - kimon, the Demon Gate - was guarded with temples such as Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei.
• Risk and destiny management: Onmyoji forecast dangers - whether for an emperor, a noble household or the realm - and offered ritual means of averting them.

To modern eyes, this may look like superstition but it was the closest thing that the Heian court had to science. And within this system, few names shine as brightly as Abe no Seimei.

A Wizard in Court Robes

Born in 921, Seimei studied under the Kamo clan, masters of astronomy and calendars. He rose slowly through the ranks and he was appointed Tenmon Hakase, Doctor of Astronomy, only at the age of 50.

While aristocrats in Heian Japan rarely lived past fifty, Seimei flourished well into old age. His reputation crystallized in his sixties and seventies, as he advised Emperor Ichijo and the all-powerful regent, Fujiwara no Michinaga.

Seimei’s home in Kyoto stood at what was then the city’s northeast corner - the direction from which harm was thought to enter through the kimon, or Demon Gate. There he lived as both protector and liminal figure, dwelling at the gateway between the human and spirit worlds.

Seimei lived a long life, passing away at the age of 84 on the twenty-sixth day of the ninth month of 1005 - October 31st by our calendar. Fittingly, he departed on Halloween, a day when the boundary between this world and the next is believed to thin.

Shikigami: Spirits at the Edge of Sight

Seimei’s fame rests not only on his predictions but also on the stories that tell of his command of shikigami.

Most people could not see these spirit familiars unless they were given form through effigies or paper dolls. In legend, they appeared as children, animals or demon-like figures.

It was said that Seimei had 12 such familiars. The most famous tale regarding his shikigami describes how the gates of his Kyoto residence would open and shut without a human servant in sight. Unnerved visitors whispered that Seimei could order his shikigami to perform even such household chores.

Seimei Jinja Shrine: A Wizard’s Home Made Sacred

In 1007, two years after Seimei's death, Emperor Ichijo ordered a shrine built on the astrologer’s residence. Today, Seimei Jinja is modest compared with the grounds it once occupied but remains charged with symbolism.

Shrine Grounds and Symbols

The Pentagram Motif: Everywhere, you’ll find the five-pointed star that represents the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Once a mark of protection, the star is now the shrine’s crest and appears on its lanterns as well as the main torii gate.

The Bellflower Beds: Kikyo - the Japanese bellflower - are planted throughout the shrine; the five petals of the flower mirror the pentagram.

The Peach: A metal peach in front of the main shrine, a symbol of longevity and the power to ward off demons, is another popular draw. Visitors rub the peach for protection.

The Well: A well has stood on the grounds since ancient times; some regard its waters as holy and believe that they have healing powers. Tea master Sen no Rikyu, who had a residence nearby, is known to have prized the waters; his last bowl of tea is said to have been made with water from the well.

The current well is composed of a pentacle - a five-pointed star in a circle - with a pentagon thrown in for good measure. Every year, the structure is turned so that the spout faces the lucky direction of that particular year.

The shrine also houses a statue of Seimei himself and, near the entrance, a miniature bridge - Ichijo Modori-bashi - stands with a shikigami beside it.

Despite the busy road it faces, the shrine remains strangely peaceful, its air cool and clean. Of the many shrines in Kyoto, this one seems just that bit more magical.

But once a year, the atmosphere transforms. The normally quiet grounds are filled with crowds witnessing the Seimei Matsuri, a two-day festival that culminates on the autumnal equinox. On those days, the shrine is alive with processions and prayers as townspeople gather to honor the wizard who once stood at the Demon Gate.

Ichijo Modori-bashi: The Bridge of Return

Just steps away from Seimei’s residence spans Ichijo Modori-bashi, a bridge just south of the current shrine.

Legends swirl around it like mist:

• A scholar’s son returning home to find his father's funeral procession crossing the bridge, clung to the coffin, praying so fervently that his father returned briefly to life and spoke to him. Hence the bridge’s name - modori, to return.
• Late one night, a young man ran into a procession of demons on the bridge. One of them spat on him - and he vanished.
• A woman-turned-demon attacked samurai Watanabe no Tsuna on the bridge. A seasoned oni slayer, he fought back, severing the demon's arm with his sword. Seimei was then called upon to seal the arm so that its powers would be contained.

Though Modori-bashi was feared as an otherworldly portal, Seimei apparently found a use for it. He is said to have stationed his 12 shikigami under the bridge because his wife found them too frightening to have in the home.

Visit Seimei Around Japan

Though Seimei Jinja in Kyoto is the best known, other shrines can be found scattered across Japan like stars forming a constellation. Each shrine refracts a different part of his story.

Abe no Seimei Shrine, Osaka city (Abeno Ward)
Said to be his birthplace though there are other contenders. The grounds hold a statue of Kuzunoha the white fox and the well from which water was supposedly drawn for the newborn Seimei.

Abe Monjuin, Nara
A temple with a 1,300-year history, it preserves Seimei’s link to star worship. Within its grounds lies an observation deck where he is said to have studied the heavens.

Abe no Seimai-sha, Ryujin Village, Wakayama
A small shrine in the southern part of the village is said to have been established when a villager enshrined a round, sacred stone found after Seimei visited the area.

Nearby is the Nekomata Falls, where legend says he sealed a yokai by burning a goma fire for three days and carving Sanskrit into the rocks. 

Gohozan Kumano Shrine, Tokyo
Unique among the Seimei sites, the entire shrine ground is shaped as a pentagon, each side about 55 m long. This was designed, legend says, by Seimei himself, to harness the protective harmony of the five elements. For centuries, it has stood as the only shrine in the eastern region of Kanto that is tied directly to the onmyoji.

Seimei Shrine, Nagoya
Local tradition holds that Seimei once prayed here to rid the marshes of vipers. When the snakes vanished, the people built a shrine to enshrine him as their protector.

Each site shows a different Seimei: infant of fox lineage, scholar of the stars, traveler sealing demons and civic guardian. Together, they show that his influence was never confined to Kyoto alone.

Seimei and the Stars: From Heian to Today

Seimei was not just an exorcist but also an astronomer. He read the skies for omens, a diviner whose instruments were the stars themselves.

In 2018, Kyoto University named its new 3.8m optical-infrared telescope the Seimei Telescope after a public vote.

Located in the southwestern prefecture of Okayama, the instrument is one of the largest astronomical telescopes in East Asia.

Just as Seimei was famed for perceiving what others could not, the telescope can see exoplanets 30 light years away - bodies hidden from ordinary vision.

It is astronomy and legend entwined again, the past lending its name to a shikigami made of metal and mirrors.

Abe no Seimei in Culture: From Scrolls to Skates

Seimei’s reputation as Japan’s most famous onmyoji did not fully crystallize until after his death. While he lived during the 10th century, his name became widely known only about a hundred years later, when works such as the Konjaku Monogatarishu collection cast him as a miracle-worker. From that point on, he passed into legend.

His legacy has continued to evolve across the centuries, taking on new guises in literature, manga, film, anime and even sports.

The modern revival of interest in Onmyodo owes much to Hiroshi Aramata’s 1985 novel Teito Monogatari, which features descendants of Seimei wielding his knowledge and five-pointed star as symbol and weapon.

A few years later, Baku Yumemakura launched his Onmyoji series of novels, portraying Seimei as a brilliant, handsome figure navigating a Heian world alive with spirits. Reiko Okano’s manga adaptation drew in a new generation of readers and its popularity led to a 2002 NHK television drama.

The novel series also inspired films. The 2001 movie Onmyoji, starring Mansai Nomura as Seimei, presented him as a charismatic sorcerer; a sequel followed in 2003.

The fascination spread beyond Japan: in 2020, the Chinese film The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity reimagined him for a new audience, followed in 2021 by The Yinyang Master, based on the NetEase game inspired by Yumemakura’s novels.

Even figure skating has fallen under Seimei's spell. In 2015, two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu unveiled his free skate program Seimei, choreographed to music from the Onmyoji films, which also inspired the opening pose.

Donning an outfit reminiscent of the film Seimei's costume, Hanyu fused athletic precision with theatrical mysticism, delivering performances that smashed world records. He went on to repeat the program at the 2018 Winter Olympics, securing his second gold medal.

From medieval scrolls to manga panels, from kabuki stages to Olympic arenas, Seimei continues to shift shape like his legendary fox mother.

What Makes a Magician Magical

What makes Abe no Seimei legendary is not just that he tamed spirits, read stars or predicted the future. It is that, a thousand years after he left for another world, his story still enchants - his shrines draw visitors who offer prayers, his pentagrams guard thresholds and even an Olympic feat bears his name.

That may be the true measure of a magician: not only to bend spirits to his will but also to bring out the magic in humans.

Photos and text by Janice Tay