The Lineage of the Abe Seimei Calendar

A living calendrical tradition transmitted from Abe no Seimei.

From the Onmyōryō to the Tsuchimikado family

The Engishiki records that the official calendar was presented to the court on a Day of the Snake. The Onmyōryō, a bureau of the Ministry of Central Affairs, was responsible for astronomy, calendrical calculation, yin-yang studies and timekeeping.

In the Heian period, Abe no Seimei served the court as a specialist in astronomy and the calendar and later headed the Onmyōryō. The Tsuchimikado family inherited this vocation for more than fifty generations. Until the beginning of the Meiji era, it prepared the calendar, submitted it to the court and supervised its authorised circulation.

Discontinuity and revival

When the Onmyōryō was abolished in 1870, state responsibility for the calendar moved to a new institution and the Tsuchimikado family’s connection with the official calendar came to an end. More than seventy years later, with the devoted support of shrines and temples, the Abe Seimei Calendar was revived in 1946.

A calendar made as sacred service

Tensha Shrine begins the making of each calendar with rites offered to Taiitsu. The calendar is prepared with prayers that those who use it may receive divine protection. Its stems and branches, Nine Stars, directions and calendrical notes form a map of how the sacred energy of Taiitsu moves through the year.

It does not fix a person’s future. It is a guide for recognising the time to begin, the time to be cautious and the time to restore order in daily life.