Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1994 21/2-3 Tokugawa-Period Disputes between Shugen Organizations and Onmydji over

This article examines the conflict during the Tokugawa period between various Shugen organizations and onmyoji (diviners) associated with the Tsuchimikado family. The Tsuchimikado family was given both impe rial and shogunate sanction in the late seventeenth century as the official headquarters for all onmyoji throughout the country. The Tsuchimikado family used this authority to try to bring all divination activity under their authority, leading to legal action against various people for tneir “unau thorized ” performance of divination. This article examines a number of specific disputes and traces the development of this issue through the Tokugawa period. The differences between the Tdzan-ha and Honzan-ha Shugen organizations, and between the Edo and Osaka/Kyoto areas, in the way the disputes were handled and settled, are highlighted. Research on onmyodo 陰陽 萄 (yin-yang divination) during the Toku-eawa period was pioneered by Murayama Shuichi, especially in his book Nihon onmyodo shi sosetsu (1981). Recent studies that have built on this foundation1 have helped brine into focus the history and structure of the onmydji 陰陽, 帀 (people practicing onmyodo) organiza tion controlled by the Tsuchimikado 土笹P 門 family. The attempt by the Tsuchimikado family to organize the onmydji during the middle of the Tokueawa period led to friction with other figures involved in folk * This article was translated into English and modified for publication by Paul L. Swanson with the assistance of the author. Some of the details, such as the full text of letters and official documents, were left untranslated. It appeared first in Japanese as Hayashi 1993, and readers interested in details on the primary sources should refer to this article. Th