道教的世界観の見えない影響The Invisible Influence of the Taoist Worldview
When considering Japan’s Shinto (神道), a concept surprisingly seldom examined is that of michi (道). Shinto itself is generally said to represent the michi of the kami (神の道), and in a Japanese context it is also called kannagara no michi (惟神の道). Personally, I believe that the fundamental basis of the Shinto concept may have emerged through an ancient process of blending the notions of kami and michi. A crucial aspect here is the concept of Tao (道) from ancient Chinese Taoism (道教). Tao represents the source of all existence, a fundamental concept signifying the natural order itself, and I consider its impact on ancient Japanese thought to have been substantial.
In general, while Japanese historical studies have frequently considered the introduction and influence of external Buddhism and Confucianism, there has been comparatively little emphasis placed on examining Taoism itself. One reason for this may be that, unlike various sects of Buddhism or schools of Confucianism, Taoism never fully established itself systematically in Japan. However, rather than viewing the systematic influence of Taoism, it’s necessary to examine the complex, composite aspects through which Taoism, derived from Laozi and Zhuangzi, later fused with yin-yang theory and five-elements doctrine, influencing Japan. In other words, Japan has historically valued elements we might call a “Taoist worldview” rather than Taoism itself. Therefore, instead of viewing Taoism from a continental perspective, it is easier to understand it as a special form resulting from complex mixtures. These elements arrived intricately intertwined with other philosophies and cultures, subsequently undergoing uniquely Japanese transformations, thus making their influence challenging to identify clearly. A quintessential example of this is Japan’s onmyodo (陰陽道). Against this historical backdrop, the history and influence of taoism in Japan have become nearly invisible.
Yet, considering that the word “Shinto” prominently includes “michi (道),” it’s quite plausible that the principles of the Tao have existed in Japan since ancient times. I personally believe that Taoist philosophy entered Japan long before Buddhism, which simultaneously implies influence preceding Confucianism, making Taoism essential to establishing primal Shinto. Indeed, although the Japanese rarely explicitly reference “Taoism,” its traces permeate daily life extensively, such as onmyodo symbols within shrine precincts, star festivals, customary practices of dispelling misfortune based on directions and calendars, feng shui, and even belief in the immortal sages (神仙信仰). Only when we recognize this as Taoism’s intrinsic power can we gain clues to analyze this hidden history. In other words, rather than developing into a systematic philosophy like Confucianism from ancient China, Taoism remained fundamentally rooted in everyday life. This is precisely the essence of Laozi’s teaching, so ancient Japanese people may well have received it naturally.
From a historical perspective, Taoism flowed in Japan through transformations of michi, such as its integration into yin-yang and five-elements theory, the practical use of the Way by the onmyoji (陰陽師), who flourished in the Heian period, and the Taoist view of training established in shugendo (修験道), which began with figures like En no Ozunu. Ultimately, this influence extended even to thinkers of the Edo period. Indeed, the Edo era can be seen as the first time the logic of interpreting, rejecting, and integrating Taoist thought became conscious. In Japan it matters to read this together with yin-yang and five-elements theory, which is itself mixed with Taoist elements. Only then can we philosophically approach how “michi” was internalized within Shinto and discern its intersections with Taoism.
Historically, the substantial influx of Taoist thought into Japan is generally considered to have occurred from the Asuka and Nara periods through the Heian period, involving diverse transmissions such as yin-yang and five-elements doctrines and Taoist techniques (方術) from continental China. In fact, the imperial court established the official position known as the onmyoryo (陰陽寮), within which the onmyoji oversaw astronomy, calendar-making, divination, and rituals. Emperor Tenmu (reigned 673–686), the key figure behind the compilation of the Kojiki, established this onmyoryo. Notably, Japan’s onmyodo, succinctly put, emerged as a composite worldview based on yin-yang and five-elements principles—explaining the cosmos and nature through yin and yang and the five elements (五行: wood, fire, earth, metal, water)—blended with every aspect of Japanese culture, Shinto included. For that reason, onmyodo itself does not exist in China.
The influence of this onmyodo is already visible in the Nihon Shoki, completed in 720. The Kojiki was produced on the premise of breaking away from Chinese influence and reviving ancient Japanese belief, and so it deliberately holds such influence back. The Nihon Shoki adopted a method that openly shows Chinese influence, and from its opening lines it interprets its mythology through yin-yang and five-elements theory. The onmyoji themselves were protective practitioners who used that theory to divine people’s fates and to ward off calamity with magical rites—but why were such people sought?
Behind this lies the direct influence of Tang dynasty Taoist ritual systems and ceremonial techniques imported through the Japanese envoys to Tang China. The formation of Japanese onmyodo drew fully on the official rites and magical methods of Tang dynasty Taoism, but the practical reality, which cannot be overlooked, mattered even more: the emperors and rulers of that era were genuinely tormented by the curses of malevolent spirits. To avoid these curses, the capital was moved to Heian-kyo in present-day Kyoto, then a remote place; in other words, anything was considered acceptable if it helped avoid them. It is worth noting that Heian-kyo, from its very founding, took in onmyodo fully. It was, quite literally, a city of onmyodo.
To offer a more precise view, it was not Taoism itself that influenced Japan; rather, from around the late 7th century onward, the onmyoji actively took in ideas and rituals of Taoist origin, converting them to suit Japanese culture and raising their precision and effect, so that a Japanese reception of Taoism took place in an invisible form. Seen as the reality of onmyodo, what emerges behind it is a body of knowledge that applies the cosmic principle of the Tao in practice. Indeed, onmyodo functioned primarily as a practical technology aimed at maintaining national and social stability, such as predicting natural disasters and avoiding misfortunes based on directional influences. This is not pure Taoism; rather, intertwined with Confucianism’s societal influence, it diverged significantly from the essential philosophies of Laozi or Zhuangzi, leaning instead toward Confucian principles.
However, as the onmyoji developed, the Tao was reconstructed not only as a harmonious principle permeating all things but also as a cosmic order accessible through divination, a development highly valued at the imperial court. The onmyoji excelled at interpreting celestial phenomena and the cyclical interplay of yin and yang, offering practical guidelines for daily life based on these insights. Yet because in Japan this blended with Confucianism, Buddhism, and Shinto rather than staying pure Taoism, a quite original philosophy arose. Its symbolic figure is Abe no Seimei (?–1005), who carried the central role among the onmyoji of the Heian period. Abe no Seimei was the founder of the Tsuchimikado family of the Abe line, which presided over the onmyoryo from the Kamakura period to the early Meiji period, although his origins and genealogy remain shrouded in mystery.
According to scant records, Abe no Seimei was born in 921 and studied onmyodo under Kamo no Tadayuki and Kamo no Yasunori. Tracing the lineage of his teachers, the Kamo family, leads us back to a legendary figure considered one of the greatest supernatural individuals in Japanese history: En no Ozunu (634–706). Numerous legends depict En no Ozunu as a superhuman practitioner using Taoist secret arts; later he was identified with the Taoist immortals from the viewpoint of shinsen thought, yet he was born into the Kamo clan. Although no contemporary documents survive, it’s conceivable that during En no Ozunu’s time, Taoism might have been received in a purer form within Japan.
En no Ozunu is viewed as a quintessential figure embodying the Taoist immortal (仙人), clearly reflecting direct Taoist influences. This perception was shaped by legends of him gaining magical powers in mountains and commanding two oni (demons). Subsequent practitioners of shugendo, influenced by En no Ozunu, sought spiritual power (jintsuriki, 神通力) and enlightenment through rigorous ascetic practices in mountains, aspiring to unify with nature. Behind these practices, clear influences from Taoism’s traditional training systems—neidan (内丹術), which cultivates the ki within the body in pursuit of long life, and shinsen thought (神仙思想), which pursues immortality by becoming an immortal sage—are evident. As these aspects clearly illustrate, it is impossible in Japan to view Taoism and onmyodo separately.
In broader terms, the Taoist influence in Japan bifurcated into two distinct streams: one direction led to the onmyodo of Heian-kyo (present-day Kyoto), an urban practice that notably impacted the imperial court and aristocracy; the other became shugendo, a popular religion whose practitioners traveled extensively, spreading Taoist worldviews among common people. While it’s possible to identify Abe no Seimei as the founder of the former and En no Ozunu as the founder of the latter, as previously mentioned, En no Ozunu stands at the root of both traditions. In fact, given that En no Ozunu was revered even by emperors as a powerbroker of his time, I personally suspect Emperor Tenmu established the onmyoryo based on En no Ozunu’s advice.
Although En no Ozunu himself did not found shugendo, subsequent practitioners placed him at the center as their spiritual forebear to legitimize their religious practices, indicating that even at that time, En no Ozunu was already recognized for skillfully integrating Taoist elements into Japanese religious culture, independently developing them into uniquely Japanese forms. Consequently, from the late Heian to the medieval period, Taoism deeply permeated Japan’s religious culture, blending intricately with Shinto and shugendo, thereby developing into distinctively Japanese forms.
Within Shinto, too, Taoist texts and worldviews were taken in while Shinto wavered within the framework of shinbutsu shugo (神仏習合, the syncretism of kami and the buddhas) as strategies to either harmonize with or reject Buddhist influences. Medieval Shinto scriptures incorporated Taoist scriptures—evidence of this trend. For example, the Ise Shinto developed by the Watarai clan and the doctrines of Ryobu Shinto (両部神道), which aimed to harmonize Shinto with esoteric Buddhist (Shingon) theories, notably valued Chinese Taoist texts such as the Beidou Jing and the Laozi Shuyi. Belief in the Big Dipper (北斗七星) and in Taiyi (太一星) is collectively called hokushin belief (北辰信仰); hokushin, the deification of the North Star, held the highest place among the deities of Taoism and likewise became significant in medieval Japanese court rituals and popular beliefs. This illustrates that star worship of Taoist origin took root uniquely within Japan.
Moreover, five-elements thought also influenced Shinto thought profoundly. Shinto often regards kami as embodiments of natural phenomena, which is said to reflect a view of nature rooted in yin-yang and five-elements theory; and interpreting kami through that theory has indeed been done since early times. The same holds for the Nihon Shoki mentioned above: it is said that to read it one must understand the Wuxing Dayi, compiled by Xiao Ji of the Sui dynasty.
Summarizing thus far, Taoism was never turned into a religion in Japan; rather, a Taoist worldview blended with yin-yang theory and five-elements theory, exerted varied influence at every turn, and fused with local philosophy, belief, and culture until it became Japanized. The symbol of this is onmyodo, which is uniquely Japanese far more than it is Taoist. It is very complex and no single interpretation is possible, but the key to understanding, I think, is not to separate Taoism from onmyodo.
From the medieval period onward, the influence of the Taoist worldview gradually receded as Confucian philosophy rose to prominence in the Edo period, eventually diminishing its official authority. Even onmyodo, which had once wielded immense central power, was sidelined from political decision-making in Edo Japan and forced to survive as folk divination and customs of warding off misfortune. Here it rejoined shugendo, which had branched off in the medieval period, and became the source of a further, intriguing spiritual history.
Thus, although the influence of the Taoist worldview seemed to vanish from public view, it grew again in the late Edo period through the lineage of kokugaku (国学), which sought to revive Shinto, and was sublimated into uniquely Japanese theories, including kotodama (言霊). Therefore, it seems right to see the Taoist worldview as living deep in the Japanese spirit, sublimated differently in different eras. So in the next article I will look in detail at this Taoist influence through the Edo period.