Enshrined Deities

The principal kami of Tensha Shrine is Taizan Fukun Ōkami (泰山府君大神). One principle (kotowari) has abided from before Heaven and Earth were divided and before yin and yang arose; it is called Taiitsu (太一), or Taiichi (泰一). The Tsuchimikado family holds a tradition that reveres this Taiitsu as Taizan Fukun. At Tensha Shrine, the name by which Taiitsu is revered as a kami is Taizan Fukun Ōkami, also called Daigen Sonshin (大元尊神), and this kami is revered as the same kami as Ame no Minakanushi no Kami (天御中主神) and Kuni no Tokotachi no Mikoto (国常立尊). This is the great kami who abides at the source of the myriad kami.

In Heaven, Taiitsu appears in the form of the North Star at the center of the sky and the Big Dipper revolving around it. The North Star establishes the axis of all phenomena as the pivot of Heaven, while the Big Dipper turns its handle and announces the four seasons. Tensha Shrine teaches that the yakudoshi, or critical years of life, are also determined by this cycle of Taiitsu.

The “Taizan” in the name Taizan Fukun is Mount Tai (泰山), a sacred mountain in China revered as the foremost of the Five Sacred Peaks, where rulers have worshiped Heaven since ancient times. The Records of the Grand Historian states that when Emperor Wu of Han worshiped Heaven at the foot of Mount Tai, the ritual resembled the suburban rite (郊) for Taiitsu.

At Tensha Shrine, Taizan Fukun Ōkami is revered in Heaven in the form of the North Star and the Big Dipper, and on Earth at this Mount Tai, which is in communion with Heaven.

Mount Tai has also been revered as the mountain to which the spirits of the dead return and gather, and Taizan Fukun has also been revered as a deity who governs human lifespans.

According to the history preserved at Tensha Shrine, the sacred object of Taizan Fukun Ōkami was transmitted more than 1,300 years ago. Through a sacred event associated with Abe no Nakamaro, who traveled to Tang China as a member of a Japanese mission, it passed from Kibi no Makibi to the Kamo and Abe families and was later enshrined by the Tsuchimikado family. Until the Meiji Restoration, the Tsuchimikado family served the Imperial Court as the hereditary head of Onmyodo and as the family responsible for observing the heavens, enshrining Taizan Fukun Ōkami.

The Taizan Fukun Rite was performed on occasions such as illness, celestial anomalies and critical years, including for emperors and shoguns. The Shōyūki relates that in 989, by order of Cloistered Emperor En’yū, this rite was performed for Emperor Ichijō, with Abe no Seimei serving at it. The Tensō Chifu Rite (天曺地府祭), which invokes many deities including Taizan Fukun, was also performed for the shogunal house in the age of the warriors. In the Edo period, the documents of the Tsuchimikado family show that the family performed this rite at the beginning of an emperor’s reign and at the appointment of a shogun.

The tradition of rites revering Taizan Fukun Ōkami, and of calendrical practice, continues at Tensha Shrine today.

One principle (kotowari) has abided from before Heaven and Earth were divided and before yin and yang arose. In Shinto, this principle, the source of all things, is revered as Taiitsu. This sacred name is also written in large characters on banners raised at the time of the Shikinen Sengu, the periodic renewal of Ise Jingu.

At the opening of Heaven and Earth described in the Nihon Shoki, Heaven and Earth separated and the kami appeared within them. The divine qi of Taiitsu first divided into yin and yang. From yin and yang arose the Five Phases of wood, fire, earth, metal and water, and through their workings the world took form.

Emperor Tenmu initiated the compilation of the Nihon Shoki. He was himself skilled in astronomy and tonkō divination, built an astronomical observatory and established the Onmyōryō, and was deeply versed in the way of yin and yang. The chronicle opens with the primordial state before Heaven and Earth had parted and before yin and yang had divided.

The Nihon Shoki records the seven generations of kami, from Kuni no Tokotachi no Mikoto, who appeared at the very beginning, through Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto, as the Seven Generations of the Age of the Gods (神世七代). One of its variant accounts relates that three kami, Ame no Minakanushi no Kami, Takamimusubi no Mikoto and Kamimusubi no Mikoto, were born in Takamagahara, the Plain of High Heaven.

At Tensha Shrine, Ame no Minakanushi no Kami and Kuni no Tokotachi no Mikoto are revered as two names of one and the same kami, and are called Taiitsu, Daigen Sonshin. Takamimusubi no Mikoto and Kamimusubi no Mikoto are revered as the yang and yin kami of Taiitsu. These kami are venerated as the first generation, and the twelve kami through the seventh generation are honored as the Twelve Deities of Tensha. At Tensha Shrine, these seven generations are called the Seven Generations of Heavenly Deities (天神七代).

In Heaven, Taiitsu appears in the form of the North Star and the Big Dipper, and in Heaven the Five Phases become the five stars. At Tensha Shrine, Ame no Minakanushi no Kami and Kuni no Tokotachi no Mikoto are venerated as this form, and these five stars are assigned to the kami of the second through sixth generations.

First Generation

• Ame no Minakanushi no Kami (天御中主神): Taiitsu, Daigen Sonshin; the North Star and the Big Dipper
• Kuni no Tokotachi no Mikoto (國常立尊): Taiitsu, Daigen Sonshin; the North Star and the Big Dipper
• Takamimusubi no Mikoto (高皇産靈尊): Yang of Taiitsu; deity of primordial qi, fire and yang
• Kamimusubi no Mikoto (神皇産靈尊): Yin of Taiitsu; deity of primordial qi, water and yin
• (Ame no Minakanushi no Kami and Kuni no Tokotachi no Mikoto are one and the same kami and are counted as one; Takamimusubi no Mikoto and Kamimusubi no Mikoto together are counted as one. The first generation thus has two.)

Second Generation

• Kuni no Satsuchi no Mikoto (國狹槌尊): Deity of primordial qi and the virtue of water; Mercury

Third Generation

• Toyokumunu no Mikoto (豐斟渟尊): Deity of primordial qi and the virtue of fire; Mars

Fourth Generation

• Uijini no Mikoto (埿土煮尊) and Suijini no Mikoto (沙土煮尊): Deities of primordial qi and the virtue of wood; Jupiter

Fifth Generation

• Ōtonoji no Mikoto (大戶之道尊) and Ōtomabe no Mikoto (大苫邊尊): Deities of primordial qi and the virtue of metal; Venus

Sixth Generation

• Omodaru no Mikoto (面足尊) and Kashikone no Mikoto (惶根尊): Deities of primordial qi and the virtue of earth; Saturn

Seventh Generation

• Izanagi no Mikoto (伊弉諾尊) and Izanami no Mikoto (伊弉冉尊): Deities who bring yin, yang and the Five Phases to completion

The two deities of the seventh generation, Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto, brought the workings of yin, yang and the Five Phases to completion and gave birth to the land and the kami. In time, Amaterasu Ōmikami was born and came to rule Takamagahara.

At Tensha Shrine, the cycles of the kami of the stars in Heaven are revered as coming to completion upon the earth with Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto.

Among the words of purification is 吐普加身依身多女 (Tohokami Emitame). At Tensha Shrine, these eight characters are explained in terms of the virtues of the kami of the Seven Generations of the Age of the Gods. Kuni no Tokotachi no Mikoto, called Daigen Sonshin, is revered as the origin of the eight characters. 吐 (to) corresponds to Kuni no Satsuchi no Mikoto of the virtue of water, 普 (ho) to Toyokumunu no Mikoto of the virtue of fire, 加身 (kami) to Uijini no Mikoto and Suijini no Mikoto of the virtue of wood, 依身 (emi) to Ōtonoji no Mikoto and Ōtomabe no Mikoto of the virtue of metal, and 多女 (tame) to Omodaru no Mikoto and Kashikone no Mikoto of the virtue of earth. Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto are revered as the two kami who embrace the whole of the eight characters.

The Nihon Shoki records Kuni no Tokotachi no Mikoto, Kuni no Satsuchi no Mikoto and Toyokumunu no Mikoto as kami who came into being alone, and the kami of the fourth through seventh generations as male and female pairs. At Tensha Shrine, the virtues of the Five Phases are revered in the kami of the second through sixth generations.

One aspect of these workings of the Five Phases can also be seen in the ancient tradition that the myriad kami gather at Izumo for divine council in the tenth month of the traditional calendar, the month of the boar, assigned to the qi of water. Water stores all things within itself and carries the potential for what will next come into being.

The workings of the Japanese kami are not separate from the cycle of wood, fire, earth, metal and water. The kami manifest the divine qi circulating through Heaven and Earth as their respective virtues: calming the world, joining bonds, turning the seasons, and giving life and nurture to all things.

The Twelve Deities of Tensha are manifestations of the divine qi of Taiitsu, the kami of the stars in Heaven who convey its heart to the earth and preserve harmony between Heaven and Earth.

Tensha Shrine has carried on, as an important duty of the Tsuchimikado family, the distribution of the divine qi of Taiitsu through the calendar and the showing of the movements of Heaven to the human world.

In the calendar, Gozu Tennō (牛頭天王), the deity of Gion, that is, Susanoo no Mikoto, is revered as the yang deity, and his consort Harisaijo (頗梨采女), that is, Kushinadahime, as the yin deity. The Hoki Naiden (簠簋内伝), attributed to Seimei, teaches that Gozu Tennō is Tendōjin (天道神) and that Harisaijo is Toshitokujin (歳徳神), who abides each year in the auspicious direction, and relates that the Eight Princes (the kami of the stars who govern the eight directions of the calendar, the Hasshōjin, 八将神) were born to these two deities.

Yang and yin unite, and the cycle of the eight directions comes into being. Just as yin and yang arose from Taiitsu and all things appeared, the auspicious and inauspicious directions of each year in the calendar are taught to be determined by this family of deities. At Tensha Shrine, Tendōjin is revered as the yang manifestation of Taiitsu and Toshitokujin, who abides in the auspicious direction (ehō), as its yin manifestation, and these two deities are revered as the deities at the beginning of the calendar.

Chintaku Reifu Sonjin—formally Taijo Chintaku Reifu Sonjin (太上鎭宅靈符尊神)—abides at the North Star, the heavenly center in which Taiitsu is manifest, and governs the Nine Stars through the revolution of the Big Dipper. This is the great deity of Hokushin, the northern celestial pivot, revered in Onmyodo as holding the sacred rank next after Taizan Fukun Ōkami.

The deity is transmitted as standing upon Genbu, the Black Tortoise. In Heaven, this immortal deity of the northern pivot governs the will of Heaven. On Earth, as the name Chintaku Reifu indicates, the deity calms and protects the home through sacred talismans and guards people from calamity.

The history of this worship reaches back to remote antiquity. According to documents of the Tsuchimikado family, the sacred object enshrined at Tensha Shrine has been worshiped since the reign of Empress Suiko—the age of Prince Shotoku.

This deity also governs divination. The fortune calendar of Tensha Shrine bears the deity’s image on its cover, and even today the deity receives especially deep reverence from many who practice the divinatory arts.

Abe no Seimei was descended from the line of the eighth emperor, Kogen, and left his name to later ages as the great master who brought Onmyodo to completion. Displaying extraordinary gifts from childhood, he mastered the principles of Taiitsu, yin and yang, and the Five Phases, and led the way of Heaven, Earth, yin and yang to its mature form.

Of particular importance in the history of Tensha Shrine is his bond with Taizan Fukun Ōkami—Taiitsu—whose transmission is associated with Abe no Nakamaro, revered as an ancestor of the Abe family.

The way of yin and yang and the calendar that Seimei mastered still lives with people today: in the seven-day cycle of sun, moon, fire, water, wood, metal and earth, and in annual observances such as New Year, Setsubun, the Tango Festival and Tanabata.

Tensha Shrine reveres and solemnly enshrines the divine spirit of Seimei as Abe no Seimei Ōkami.

This Inari deity is the princess revered as the mother of Abe no Seimei.

From ancient times, tradition has related that Seimei’s mother was a white fox of Shinoda Forest in Izumi Province. When her true form became known, she left the young Seimei and returned to the forest, leaving a poem at their parting:

If you long for me, come and seek me
in Izumi, in Shinoda Forest,
beneath the leaves of the arrowroot vine.

恋しくば　尋ね来て見よ　和泉なる
信太の森の　うらみ葛の葉

The word urami evokes both grief or resentment—the sorrow of one compelled to depart—and “looking behind,” an invitation to come and see the hidden form. The poem conveys a mother’s love for her child even after she became a divine spirit. Tradition says that Seimei inherited a more-than-human spiritual nature from this mother, remembered in the tale as Kuzuha, and the poem later came to be revered as divinely inspired.

The white fox is a messenger of Inari Ōkami. Through this sacred bond, Tensha Shrine prepares the calendar of Fushimi Inari Taisha, the head shrine of Inari worship.

Because she formed a bond with a human and bore a child, she grants blessings for children and harmony between husband and wife. Through the spiritual nature of the white fox inherited by Seimei, she bestows and strengthens spiritual power.

The Tsuchimikado family, descendants of Seimei, has worshiped this divine mother through successive generations.

Abe no Nakamaro was a son of Abe no Funamori, an official of the Abe clan that claimed descent from Ohiko no Mikoto. In 717, while still under twenty years of age, he was selected as a student in a Japanese mission to Tang China and crossed the sea. Kibi no Makibi traveled in the same fleet. According to the Shoku Nihongi, before departure the party prayed for a safe voyage at the foot of Mount Mikasa in Kasuga.

In Tang China, Nakamaro used the name Chao Heng (朝衡). Tradition holds that he passed the imperial examination and served Emperor Xuanzong, rising to high offices including Director of the Palace Library and Protector-General of Annam. The Old Book of Tang records that he admired the ways of China and remained there, while the poets Wang Wei and Li Bai were his friends. Emperor Xuanzong, whom Nakamaro served, was also the emperor who performed the Fengshan rite (封禪, the great rite of worshiping Heaven) at Mount Tai.

According to the history preserved at Tensha Shrine, while in Tang China Nakamaro received from sacred Mount Tai the sacred object of the supreme deity of Heaven, Daigen Sonshin—Taiitsu. With the great charge that it be transmitted to the Imperial House and the Abe family, he entrusted everything to Kibi no Makibi.

In 753, Nakamaro at last boarded a ship bound for Japan. At a farewell banquet on the coast of Mingzhou, he is said to have composed this poem:

Looking up across the vast plain of Heaven,
is that the same moon that rose
above Mount Mikasa in Kasuga?

天の原　ふりさけ見れば　春日なる
三笠の山に　出でし月かも

Known to all as poem seven of the Hyakunin Isshu, its Mount Mikasa is the very mountain of Kasuga where the mission had prayed for safety on the day of departure thirty-six years earlier.

The ship, however, was driven off course by a storm and reached Annam. Only the second ship of the same fleet reached Japan; aboard it was the monk Jianzhen, known in Japan as Ganjin. Hearing the report of the wreck, Li Bai mourned his friend in a poem saying that the bright moon had not returned and had sunk into the blue sea. Nakamaro survived and returned to Chang’an, but another opportunity to return to Japan never came. He died in Chang’an in 770 after fifty-three years in Tang China.

People of later ages related that even after becoming a spirit, Nakamaro aided Makibi in China.

Nakamaro did not return, but what he entrusted did. The sacred object crossed the sea in Makibi’s hands, was protected by the Kamo family, passed to Abe no Yasuna and Seimei and then to the Tsuchimikado family. Thirteen centuries later, it remains enshrined at Tensha Shrine in Natasho, Wakasa.

Tensha Shrine worships Nakamaro—who through learning came to serve an emperor in a foreign land—as a deity of scholarship. He grants strength to those who pursue learning and to those who take on demanding examinations and trials.

Tensha Shrine also prepares the calendar of Kasuga Taisha, the shrine at the foot of Mount Mikasa where Nakamaro prayed before his departure and which he remembered in his poem of longing for home. This is a sacred bond extending across more than a thousand years.