Kamo no Yasunori (賀茂保憲) was an ''onmyōji'', a practitioner of ''

onmyōdō is a technique that uses knowledge of astronomy and calendars to divine good fortune in terms of date, time, direction and general personal affairs, originating from the philosophy of the yin-yang and the five elements. The philosophy of yin an ...

'', during the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He was considered the premier onmyōji of his time. Yasunori was the son of the onmyōji Kamo no Tadayuki (賀茂忠行). According to a tale in the '' Konjaku Monogatarishu'', at the age of ten, Yasunori accompanied his father to an exorcism, where he was able to perceive the

demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, t ...

— a sign of talent, for, unlike Tadayuki, Yasunori was capable of doing so without formal training. He later taught

Abe no Seimei , also known as Doujimaru (童子丸), was a Japanese ''onmyōji'', a court official and specialist of ''Onmyōdō'', during the middle of the Heian period.Miller, Laura. "Extreme Makeover for a Heian-era Wizard". ''Mechademia 3: Limits of the H ...

the art of onmyōdō. Seimei became his successor in astrology and divination, while Yasunori's son succeeded him in the creation of the calendar, a lesser task. For several centuries afterward, the Abe clan controlled the government ministry of onmyōdō, while the Kamo clan became hereditary keepers of the calendar. Yasunori's second daughter became an acclaimed poet. Yasunori's death is a driving plot element in the

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

play '' Ashiya Dōman Ōuchi Kagami'' (''A Courtly Mirror of Ashiya Dōman''). In the play, he is the owner of the ''Kin'u Gyokuto Shū'', a book of divination passed down from a Chinese wizard. He intends to marry his adopted daughter to his disciple Abe no Yasuna (安倍保名), the father of Abe no Seimei, and to give the book to him, but he dies before doing so. This sets the stage for a conflict between Ashiya Michitaru (as Dōman is called in the play) and Abe no Yasuna over ownership of the book.Goff, Janet. ''Conjuring Kuzunoha from the World of Abe no Seimei''. ''A Kabuki Reader: History and Performance'', ed. Samuel L. Leiter. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2001. 276-279. ()

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamo no, Yasunori 917 births 977 deaths Japanese mythology Japanese religious leaders Onmyōji Kabuki characters Kamo clan