. onmyd and esoteric buddhism 685
The Transmission of Onmyōdō Teachings to Japan and the Onmyōryō
The Korean Buddhist priest Kwallŭk (Kanroku) is credited with
the introduction of Onmyōdō teachings to Japan around the seventh
century. Kwallŭk stayed at the Asukadera Temple in present-
day Nara prefecture and taught a number of students. However, dur-
ing the same time immigrants to Japan from the continent may also
have brought with them yin-yang ideas as part of their intellectual and
religious backgrounds. In addition, numerous Japanese scholars and
priests went to China to pursue advanced studies, including Kibi no
Makibi (695–775), an influential intellectual who acquired
a deep knowledge of yin-yang philosophy, calendrical science, astron-
omy, and divination during his long sojourn in China.^3
From the beginning of the eighth century, Buddhist priests were
prohibited from practicing divination or other activities performed by
the Onmyōryō , thus forcing many of the Buddhist priests who
had studied Onmyōdō to disrobe in order to accept a position in the
country’s bureaucracy. Onmyōdō thus came to be officially practiced
by onmyōji ( yin-yang specialists) at the Onmyōryō (Bureau for
Yin-Yang Affairs), which was part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
(Nakatsukasa-shō ).
The Onmyōryō was divided into four departments. The Yin-Yang
(On’yō) Department had to do with divination and geomancy ( feng
shui; fūsui ); the Astronomy (Tenmon ) Department had
to detect anomalies of qi concerning meteorological phenomena and
notify the emperor about them; the Calendar (Reki ) Department
was responsible for the production of the calendar; and the Water
Clocks (Rōkoku ) Department was charged with ringing bells to
indicate the passage of time by relying on water clocks. It must be
noted that in Japan the Onmyōryō focused on divination, whereas in
China the main subject of these governmental agencies was astron-
omy. Divination performed in the Yin-Yang Department was based on
natural phenomena, and its results were treated as state secrets.
There was, at least in principle, a distinction between Onmyōdō
and Buddhist divination; this difference was the basis of the need
(^3) A medieval legend recounts that the most famous Onmyōdō specialist, Abe no
Seimei , also went to China to study, but this tale is not based on
historical facts. It does indicate, however, the importance of this in medieval Japan.