The tools in a medieval Japanese healer’s toolkit: from fortunetelling and exorcism to herbal medicines
- Written by Alessandro Poletto, Lecturer in East Asian Religions, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis
An 'onmyoji,' an expert on yin and yang, performs divination with counting rods in an Edo-period illustration.
Kyoto University Library/Wikimedia“The Tale of Genji,” often called Japan’s first novel, was written 1,000 years ago. Yet it still occupies a powerful place in the Japanese imagination. A popular TV drama, “Dear...