Kōtokui Tomosuke

Kōtokui Tomosuke was a member of the Kōtokui family an Onmyoji family ja:幸徳井友傳

History[edit]

The revival of the official onmyōji and the rise of the private onmyōji in the early modern period[edit]

After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the defeat of the Western Army at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the momentum of the Toyotomi family weakened. Tsuchimikado Hisanaga was then granted the right by Tokugawa Ieyasu to administer a total of 177 koku and 6 to [ja], covering the villages of Kaide, Otokuni County, Yamashiro Province (present-day Kaide, Mukō City, Kyoto Prefecture); Terado, Otokuni County (present-day Terado, Mukō City); Umekōji, Kadono County, Yamashiro Province (present-day Umekōji, Shimogyō Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture); Saiin, Kadono County (present-day Saiin, Ukyō Ward, Kyoto City); and Kisshōin, Kii County, Yamashiro Province (present-day Kisshōin, Minami Ward, Kyoto City), and he returned to the Imperial court. When the Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603, the Tsuchimikado family was officially recognized by the shogunate as the head of the onmyōdō sect, and was in charge of geomorphology in the construction and layout of facilities for the development of the Edo area. Later, onmyōdō was also used in the construction of Nikkō Tōshō-gū Shrine. The shogunate also began to control the activities of private onmyōji, which were flourishing in various parts of Japan at the time, with the aim of controlling folk religion to prevent the spread of rumors. The shogunate tried to use two onmyōji families from the Heian period (the Kamo and Abe family) to give authority to its measures. In addition to the Tsuchimikado family, which survived as a descendant of the Abe family, the shogunate planned to reestablish the Kōtokui family, which was a descendant of the Kamo family and a branch of the defunct Kadenokōji family, and to have the two families control the private onmyōji in various regions.

With this move, the Tsuchimikado family seized the opportunity of the death of Kōtokui Tomosuke in 1682 to effectively eliminate the Kōtokui family and once again monopolize the various positions in the Bureau of Onmyō. In addition to the patronage they received from the Imperial court, they also succeeded in getting the Tokugawa shogunate, the de facto government, to grant them the sole right to control onmyōji throughout Japan. They exercised their exclusive right to issue licenses to onmyōji (not as onmyōji, but as "students") from all over Japan, and became the official grand masters, making their presence felt. Furthermore, the onmyōdō took on the form of shinto in its appearance and came to be widely known as the Tensha Tsuchimikado Shinto, and the Tsuchimikado family reached its peak. In wartime samurai society, onmyōdō was largely neglected, but under the peaceful Tokugawa shogunate, it was incorporated into the rituals of the shogunate and became a subject of study by shogunate bureaucrats as a precedent for the past.

Onmyōji in various regions were also active, with the Ogasawara family of the Seiwa Genji clan, a samurai onmyōji, and others repeatedly fusing and changing their beliefs with the folklore of various regions, and throughout the Edo period it became quite popular among the people as a folk religion.

In 1684, Shibukawa Shunkai, an astronomer of the Tokugawa shogunate, completed the first calendar made by Japanese, the Jōkyō calendar. The Xuanming calendar, which had been in use for 823 years, was reformed by the Jōkyō calendar, and the Tsuchimikado family lost the authority to arrange the calendar to the Tokugawa shogunate. About 70 years later, in 1755, the calendar was reformed again when Tsuchimikado Yasukuni created the Hōryaku calendar. The Tsuchimikado family regained the authority to arrange and reform the calendar. However, the Hōryaku calendar had many flaws and was considered to be rather inferior to the scientifically created Jōkyō calendar.

Later, the Astronomical Department established under the Tokugawa shogunate's Temple and Shrine Magistrates regained control and created the Tenpō calendar, which was said to be considerably more accurate than the Tsuchimikado family's Hōryaku calendar or even the Jōkyō calendar, which was considered more accurate than the Hōryaku calendar.

Footnotes[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Murakami, Shūichi, ed. (1981). 日本陰陽道史総説 [A Review of the History of Onmyōdō in Japan] (in 日本語). Hanawa Shobō. ISBN 4827310572. Search this book on
Endō, Katsumi (1994). 近世陰陽道史の研究 [Studies in the History of Early Modern Onmyōdō] (in Japanese). Shin Jinbutsu Ōrai Sha. ISBN 4404021569.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Kosaka, Shinji (2004). 安倍晴明撰『占事略決』と陰陽道 [Abe no Seimei's "Senji Ryakketsu" and Onmyōdō] (in Japanese). Kyūko Shoin. ISBN 9784762941672.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Saitō, Rei (2007). 王朝時代の陰陽道 [Onmyōdō in the Dynastic Period] (in Japanese). Meicho Kankō Kai. ISBN 978-4839003302.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Yamashita, Katsuaki (1996). 平安時代の宗教文化と陰陽道 [Religious Culture in the Heian Period and Onmyōdō] (in Japanese). Iwata Shoin. ISBN 4900697656.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Takahashi, Keiya (2000). 現代・陰陽師入門 [Introduction to Modern Onmyōji] (in Japanese). Asahi Sonorama. ISBN 4257035846.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Nakamura, Shōhachi (2000). 日本陰陽道書の研究増補版 [A Study of the Onmyō Books in Japan; Expanded Edition] (in Japanese). Kyūko Shoin. ISBN 4257035846.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Suzuki, Ikkei (2002). 陰陽道呪術と鬼神の世界 [Onmyōdō: The World of Spells and Demons] (in Japanese). Kōdansha. ISBN 9784062582445.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Seimei Shrine, ed. (2002). 安倍晴明公 [The Right Honorable Abe no Seimei] (in Japanese). Kōdansha. ISBN 9784062109833.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Hayashi, Jun; Koike, Jun'ichi (2002). 陰陽道の講義 [Lecture on Onmyōdō] (in Japanese). Sagano Shoin. ISBN 4782303610.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Shigeta, Shin'ichi (2005). 平安貴族と陰陽師 [Heian Nobles and Onmyōji] (in Japanese). Yoshikawa Kōbun Kan. ISBN 4642079424.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Hayashi, Jun (2005). 近世陰陽道の研究 [A Study of Early Modern Onmyōdō] (in Japanese). Yoshikawa Kōbun Kan. ISBN 4642034072.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Shigeta, Shin'ichi (2006). 陰陽師 [Onmyōji] (in Japanese). Chūōkōron-Shinsha. ISBN 4121018443.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Murakami, Shūichi, ed. (2017). 陰陽道叢書 1 古代 [Onmyōdō Series 1: The Ancient Times] (in Japanese). Hanawa Shobō. ISBN 978-4626017970.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Murakami, Shūichi, ed. (2017). 陰陽道叢書 2 中世 [Onmyōdō Series 2: The Middle Ages] (in Japanese). Hanawa Shobō. ISBN 978-4626017987.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Murakami, Shūichi, ed. (2017). 陰陽道叢書 3 近世 [Onmyōdō Series 3: The Early Modern Period] (in Japanese). Hanawa Shobō. ISBN 978-4626017994.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
Murakami, Shūichi, ed. (2017). 陰陽道叢書 4 特論 [Onmyōdō Series 4: The Advanced Studies] (in Japanese). Hanawa Shobō. ISBN 978-4626018007.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on

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Kōtokui Tomosuke

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