Astrology and Astral Magic in Tantric Japan

Abstract Japanese Buddhism received and implemented a kind of Sinicized form of astrology from the ninth to tenth centuries. This type of astrology differed from the type of court omenology that had earlier been received from the mainland and was based on ancient Chinese concepts of astroterrestrial correspondences and related chiefly to concerns of the country as a whole, rather than to individuals. The new form of astrology, originating from Indian and Indo-Iranian sources in Chinese translation, could be used for timing rituals to maximize their efficiency or to predict the fate of an individual. The planets, now viewed as deities, also entered the Buddhist pantheon in Japan and became an important object of worship. New ritual forms were also received and developed, in which one could negotiate one’s fate as it might be predicted based on astrology.