Fate
Well, here’s a post I’ve been trying to write for a month or so now. Sorry it’s so late.
Anyway, one of the biggest things to hit me during my first week in Japan was the concept of destiny or fate. I’ve never really been too much of a fatalist, the only exception being when I’m doing my fantasy writing (and when I'm watching X). However, now, I’m starting more and more to believe in fate and predestination. In the month that I’ve spent in Japan since I intended on writing this, that belief has only grown stronger.
(Background info: For those who don’t know, my main interest in Japan as of now is a mystic who died exactly 1,000 years ago. His mysticism was mostly Taoist in nature [yin & yang], but also sort of an amalgamation of Buddhism and Shinto [神道]. He was one of what were called “onmyoji [陰陽師]” or “Masters of Yin and Yang.” They were basically diviners for the emperor of Japan back in the early days, but many believed them to have supernatural powers, so there is a lot of mystery around their group. The most famous onmyoji, the one I am studying was Abe no Seimei [安倍晴明] and there are a great many legends about him spread throughout Japan. Whenever you see the words “onmyoji,” “onmyodo,” or “Seimei,” this is what I’m referring to. I know it’s hard to digest all this info, so maybe it’s best for you to just think of him as a Merlin-type figure.)
So, I’ve wanted to study Seimei ever since I heard about him freshman year in college. My college years culminated with an all-too-well-written application to the Fulbright committee to go to Japan for a year to study both Japanese and Abe no Seimei. However, that fell through, most likely due to my ineptitude in Japanese in comparison to what I would need to know to study him. Needless to say, I was crushed, though not so much because I didn’t get accepted. I was hurt moreso because my academics suffered due to the terribly large amounts of work I put into my application which amounted to nothing.
During my first week here, I realized that I might’ve been fated to not get accepted by the Fulbright committee. I ended up in a nice homestay with wonderful host parents, who—of all things—were also interested in Abe no Seimei. We went to a few used bookstores and I gathered up all I could on the guy (though finding academic books on him is much much harder than to find comic books or fantasy novels), which amounted to quite a bit that I still cannot read.
However, my host mother, Yukiko, happened to find a book that is basically a “tour guide” for seeing Seimei-related stuff in Japan. She quickly discovered that he had visited a very small temple called Yagumo Jinja (八雲神社) near the famous Engakuji (円覚寺) Temple in Kamakura (鎌倉). Naturally, the following weekend, we went to Kamakura and visited the temple. Right next to Yagumo Jinja, there was a small stone erected with Seimei’s name engraved on it, though they used slightly different kanji (安部晴明 instead of 安倍晴明). That one I have yet to figure out, but it’s still definitely him as far as I (and the book) can tell. As usual, pictures of the Kamakura visit will come as soon as I get a chance to upload them.
The point of this entry is that I’m closer now to Seimei than I ever have been before, and a big part of that was not being accepted to study him for the Fulbright. It’s really interesting how fate seems to worrk out. And speaking of fate and destiny, I highly doubt that it’s a coincidence that I found out about Seimei in just enough time to actually visit his shrine in Kyoto (京都) on the thousandth-year-anniversary of his death. That’s too much of a coincidence to just be shrugged off, I think. For anyone who cares, I’m going to visit the temple during my winter break, just before Christmastime and the culmination of his thousandth-year-anniversary. I’m sure I’ll have a great many pictures to share after that.
Anyway, one of the biggest things to hit me during my first week in Japan was the concept of destiny or fate. I’ve never really been too much of a fatalist, the only exception being when I’m doing my fantasy writing (and when I'm watching X). However, now, I’m starting more and more to believe in fate and predestination. In the month that I’ve spent in Japan since I intended on writing this, that belief has only grown stronger.
(Background info: For those who don’t know, my main interest in Japan as of now is a mystic who died exactly 1,000 years ago. His mysticism was mostly Taoist in nature [yin & yang], but also sort of an amalgamation of Buddhism and Shinto [神道]. He was one of what were called “onmyoji [陰陽師]” or “Masters of Yin and Yang.” They were basically diviners for the emperor of Japan back in the early days, but many believed them to have supernatural powers, so there is a lot of mystery around their group. The most famous onmyoji, the one I am studying was Abe no Seimei [安倍晴明] and there are a great many legends about him spread throughout Japan. Whenever you see the words “onmyoji,” “onmyodo,” or “Seimei,” this is what I’m referring to. I know it’s hard to digest all this info, so maybe it’s best for you to just think of him as a Merlin-type figure.)
So, I’ve wanted to study Seimei ever since I heard about him freshman year in college. My college years culminated with an all-too-well-written application to the Fulbright committee to go to Japan for a year to study both Japanese and Abe no Seimei. However, that fell through, most likely due to my ineptitude in Japanese in comparison to what I would need to know to study him. Needless to say, I was crushed, though not so much because I didn’t get accepted. I was hurt moreso because my academics suffered due to the terribly large amounts of work I put into my application which amounted to nothing.
During my first week here, I realized that I might’ve been fated to not get accepted by the Fulbright committee. I ended up in a nice homestay with wonderful host parents, who—of all things—were also interested in Abe no Seimei. We went to a few used bookstores and I gathered up all I could on the guy (though finding academic books on him is much much harder than to find comic books or fantasy novels), which amounted to quite a bit that I still cannot read.
However, my host mother, Yukiko, happened to find a book that is basically a “tour guide” for seeing Seimei-related stuff in Japan. She quickly discovered that he had visited a very small temple called Yagumo Jinja (八雲神社) near the famous Engakuji (円覚寺) Temple in Kamakura (鎌倉). Naturally, the following weekend, we went to Kamakura and visited the temple. Right next to Yagumo Jinja, there was a small stone erected with Seimei’s name engraved on it, though they used slightly different kanji (安部晴明 instead of 安倍晴明). That one I have yet to figure out, but it’s still definitely him as far as I (and the book) can tell. As usual, pictures of the Kamakura visit will come as soon as I get a chance to upload them.
The point of this entry is that I’m closer now to Seimei than I ever have been before, and a big part of that was not being accepted to study him for the Fulbright. It’s really interesting how fate seems to worrk out. And speaking of fate and destiny, I highly doubt that it’s a coincidence that I found out about Seimei in just enough time to actually visit his shrine in Kyoto (京都) on the thousandth-year-anniversary of his death. That’s too much of a coincidence to just be shrugged off, I think. For anyone who cares, I’m going to visit the temple during my winter break, just before Christmastime and the culmination of his thousandth-year-anniversary. I’m sure I’ll have a great many pictures to share after that.
posted by Me at 9:57 PM
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