Teito Monogatari:
The Tale of the Imperial Capital
Part 1: Great Spirit of Tokyo
Author: Hiroshi Aramata
Part 4: The Imperial Capital Renovation Plan
Chapter 16: Additional Notes on the Tsuchimikado Family
Yoichirō kept most of his attention on the infuriated Mr. Kamo. He turned his attention to the white family crest visible on Mr. Kamo’s formal attire. Kamo meant "turtle;" the family crest closely resembled a turtle shell pattern with a white pentagram layered over it. This was the family crest of Tsuchimikado, a family of famous sorcerers and diviners.
How was the pentagram talisman used by Lieutenant Katō connected to the greatest lineage of secret arts in Japan?
Yoichirō recalled a strange kabuki play he had seen about a month earlier. The crest worn by Abe no Seimei, who'd appeared as a character in that performance, was also a pentagram, wasn’t it? If so, the crest on Mr. Kamo’s attire must belong to the Tsuchimikado family. They traced their family origins back to Abe no Seimei.
Abe no Seimei lived in the Heian period, when Fujiwara no Michinaga was at the height of his power. According to legend, Abe no Seimei's mother was a fox spirit from Shinoda Forest.
Yoichirō stared at Mr. Kamo's family crest for a long time, lost in thought.
Abe no Seimei was a very popular character in kabuki plays and other media. Even five-year-old children knew his name. His spiritual power was described in countless tales, including Konjaku Monogatari and Uji Shūi Monogatari.1
An example of one well-known tale was a story from the Chōtoku era (February 995 through January 999). Fujiwara no Michinaga received a vague, inexplicable warning from an oracle: "I have divined that on such-and-such month and such-and-such day a strange incident will occur at your mansion. Make preparations to defend yourself from disaster."
When the prophesied day arrived, Fujiwara no Michinaga closed the gates and refused entry to all would-be visitors. Those gathered to protect Fujiwara no Michinaga were the commander of the chinjufu, Minamoto no Yorimitsu, a storied warrior famous for fighting demons, the sorcerer Abe no Seimei, the capable physician Tamba no Tadāki, and a Buddhist monk in the role of Sōjō Kanshū.2
No threat was too great to overcome these mighty guardians, but Fujiwara no Michinaga was still uneasy. A fresh, succulent melon was set before Michinaga, but he was too terrified to eat a single bite. Abe no Seimei, who until then had been sitting in silence, suddenly rose to his feet and looked closely at the melon.
"This melon is cursed," Abe no Seimei said.
The members of the gathering, beginning with Michinaga, went very pale. The melon originated from far-off India. There were old tales--ancient even then--of the knowledge of curses spreading from India to China.
Cursing someone required a sorcerer to harness the demonic power of ominous animals like snakes and insects. The sorcerer could then use this power to lay a curse upon an enemy. Some curses caused misfortune. Others killed outright. Curse magic was sorcery's most terrifying branch.
Practicing curse magic was strictly forbidden, of course. Severe punishment was imposed upon sorcerers who were caught.
After a curse was laid upon someone, it was exceedingly difficult to remove. The only way to survive a curse was to have a stronger sorcerer perform a cleansing ritual to remove it. Dogs were skilled at sniffing out curses and were often used to detect them before they could be laid on a person.
The four spiritual adepts who protected Michinaga were a cut above most sorcerers. In response to Abe no Seimei’s words, Sōjō Kanshū performed a powerful and esoteric Buddhist ritual over the cursed melon.
The melon suddenly began to move. It swayed left and right, rose up, and then spun. The melon’s eerie motion did not stop, and it gradually drew closer to Michinaga.
The physician Tadāki drove a long medical needle into the melon using a burst of spiritual power.
Yorimitsu drew his sword and slashed through the melon, dividing it cleanly in two.
The melon pulsed with a quiver and then stopped moving.
A venomous snake writhed within the melon.
The nature of the curse upon the melon was connected to the snake. The sorcerer who had created the curse had placed the snake into a jar with other venomous creatures and insects. The creatures would devour one another, and in the end only a single one would survive. This creature--in this case, the snake--would then be used as a vessel for the sorcerer's curse.
Michinaga opened his eyes wide like saucers, cold sweat streaming down his face. He would not have survived being bitten by the snake.
The physician's needle had pierced the snake through the eye and Yoritomo's sword had cut off the snake's head.
Abe no Seimei's reputation as a curse breaker grew stronger due to events like these. In the Heian period, the fear of curses was widespread and the demand for curse-breaking sorcerers was high. He was perhaps the most famous sorcerer of his generation.
The Tsuchimikado family were the descendants of the yin-yang sorcerer Abe no Ariyo, the fourteenth-generation descendant of Abe no Seimei. The Tsuchimikado family acted as the head of the Abe family for successive generations after that. The modern-day Tsuchimikado family were direct descendants of Abe no Seimei and had inherited some share of his spiritual power.
Abe no Seimei apprenticed under Kamo no Tadayuki and Kamo no Yasunori, 10th-century diviners of the Heian period's Imperial Court, when he was a young man. Abe no Seimei became Kamo no Yasunori's successor in astrology and divination, while Yasunori's son took on the lesser responsibility of devising the calendar. The Kamo family and the Tsuchimikado family had been allies since Abe no Seimei's time and practiced similar sorcerous arts.
Translator's Notes
1 今昔物語: Konjaku Monogatarishū, Anthology of Tales Old and New, is a 12th-century Japanese collection of over a thousand tales from India, China, and Japan, compiled during the Heian period, that serves as a significant work of classical Japanese literature, similar in scope to Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
宇治拾遺物語:
Uji Shūi Monogatari, A Collection of Tales from Uji is a collection
of Japanese tales written around the beginning of the 13th century. The
author is unknown, and it may have been revised several times. ↩
2 鎮守府将: The chinjufu shōgun ( literally “commander-in-chief of the central peacekeeping headquarters”) was a military post in classical and feudal Japan.
僧正監修: Sōjō Kanshū refers to a high-ranking
Buddhist monk overseeing or supervising something. Sōjō Kanshū was the
chief official for religious governance, discipline, and liaison with the
state, ensuring Buddhist activities aligned with sociopolitical
structures. ↩
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