Greek Gold and Silver Ring with inscription, c. 575 BC
The ring is decorated on the outer side with three grooves articulating two dentilated bands. The dedicatory inscription rests on the front side of the ring while the reverse is plain. The Greek inscription reads “Harriknidas dedicated (this) to the goddess white-armed Hera.”
Can you tell me anything about Onmyōji named Kamo no Akimasa/Arimasa (賀茂在昌) who converted to Christianity in Sengoku Jidai? I heard he was supposed to be the bridge between eastern and western esoterics.
I’m… under the impression you are overestimating his importance?
He doesn’t really seem like a major figure - neither as a court noble nor onmyōji specifically. No clue what sort of “esotericists” he would even come into contact with; as far as I am aware he got baptized by Gaspar Vilela (his baptismal name being Manoel), and later interacted with Luis Frois, who were demonstrably not esotericists but pretty standard missionaries.
Akimasa did show interest in western astronomy according to Frois, but that doesn’t really indicate any contact with “esotericism” let alone transfer of any eastern “esoteric” knowledge to westerners (João Rodrigues does show a degree of familiarity with both Chinese and Japanese divination, but I see no evidence this has anything to do with Akimasa; wouldn’t it be more sensible the source were debates held between Jesuits and Buddhist clergy?). Seems like someone’s story idea, not historical reality. As a matter of fact, most search results pertaining to Akimasa seem to be works of fiction.
If you want to read more, there is a summary of someone’s personal research on him here. Note the author basically stresses most of the info seems dubious or contradictory. At times they are even questioning if the Christian “Aqimasadono” was really the same person as Akimasa.
Tbh it feels fair to say Akimasa isn’t even the most famous Christian convert onmyōji. That title probably would suit Toyoda Mitsugi, the fabled “female onmyōji“ (quite literally called 女陰陽師 by contemporaries) better. That’s not related to your ask, but I summarize her case under the cut nonetheless.
Mitsugi was not exactly an onmyōji in the classical sense; she could call herself that because she paid her dues to the Tsuchimikado clan, who issued permits for all diviners through the Edo period. She started her divinatory career as a medium claiming to be in contact with Inari Myōjin (a relatively common profession for middle aged widows in urban areas at the time); she first came to the attention of authorities by causing a minor commotion during a Konpira pilgrimage in 1822. However, she only attained greater prominence in 1827. She was at the core of a “christian incident” which ended in her public execution in 1829. Today she has entire articles and monographs dedicated to her and has been a subject of heated debate for around a century among researchers.
The case is fairly unique, in that in contrast with, for example, the 1805 investigation in Amakusa it didn’t really have a possible case of underground survival of an early Japanese Christian community at the core. Rather, everyone involved was a new convert. However, did they convert to Roman Catholicism? Not quite. What their creed had more to do was the stereotypical image of a Christian in the Edo period, rather than Christian dogma. The stereotypical Christian was believed to perform secret “sorcerous” rituals to attract wealth and fame. That’s essentially what Mitsugi and her associates were doing - they just didn’t view this negatively, in contrast with ex. Mito domain scholars who were particularly active in this discourse. Their testimonies indicate they were aiming to gain tangible benefits in the present through novel religious means, basically.
There is a core difference, though - a second component of the popular stereotype of a Christian was that they seek to subvert society and are prone to rebellion. There’s no evidence this was among Mitsugi’s interests, and with a group of adherents as small as she gathered it would obviously not be possible to start a rebellion in the first place.
The case actually started with a scam: a certain ms. Sano claimed that she can perform an uniquely successful Inari ritual and collected money from people, promising them it will not only be returned, but even shall miraculously multiply. None of that money showed up, though, so her clients informed the authorities. Over the course of the investigation it was revealed that she was initiated into “the Christian sect” (切支丹宗門, kirishitan shūmon) by a certain Kinu… who turned out to be a disciple of Mitsugi.
Further investigation revealed the case went deeper than just Mitsugi, though. She, and a number of other people, were actually initiated by a certain Mizuno Gunki - who could not be called for questioning for the simple reason that he already passed away of natural causes.
Gunki supposedly studied Matteo Ricci’s writings, but it’s a matter of heated debate if he was really a Christian in any meaningful sense. He preached about a figure he referred to as Tentei Nyorai (“the heavenly sovereign Buddha”). About the most Christian aspect of what little of his teachings survives is the mantra Zensu Maru paraizo - “Jesus, Mary, paradise”. However, this is actually a phrase repeated commonly in anti-Christian polemics; same goes for using Tentei as a moniker of the Abrahamic god. The matter is further complicated by the fact the image of god employed by the group was in fact a slightly unusual Otafuku holding an infant and a sword - hardly a part of any Christian artistic canon (though it has been suggested the image might have been a depiction of Mary holding Jesus and a scepter misinterpreted through an Edo lens). It has been argued that the entire case was essentially just a particularly unusual hayarigami cult.
Many rumors surrounded the investigation and subsequent execution of Mitsugi, and through them her unique creed outlived her. Supposedly the lead investigator, Ōshio Heihachirō, actually came to be influenced by her and his rebellion against authority in 1837 was attributed to alleged Christian influence on him (in reality his motivation is poorly understood; his traditional image as an advocate for the impoverished is not exactly easy to reconcile with his personality reflected in his reports related to the Mitsugi case). Supposedly he even learned “Christian sorcery” which enabled him to not be harmed by flames and to hide from view. There was reportedly even a kabuki play where he received a scroll with Christian spells from his mother. Matsura Seizan arguably went even further: he just straight up speculated he was possessed by Mitsugi’s vengeful spirit. Interestingly, he did not believe she was a genuine Christian, but rather a Dakiniten devotee.
Materials related to the case were published a few years ago in English under the title Christian Sorcerers on Trial. Records of the 1827 Osaka Incident. Some earlier commentary in English can also be found in this article.
Actually that's interesting! Is there a specific source where mages using tomes come from?
While books have associated with magic pretty much since their invention, they were not always an accoutrement to that archetypical Magician. In the 1st century all the mages wrote shit on Steles and Papyri and whatnot.
The book as essential magical paraphernalia probably emerged around the medieval era, where most magical texts were transmitted in a clerical context; i.e. by poorly paid semi-literate church employees. Richard Keichefer proposes that this social class formed a sort of informal underground magical text trade. I have my doubts as to how provable this is. But suffice to say that medieval magic was transferred by being looted from arabs or produced by scribes.
I suspect the book as magical really took off in the printing revolution. Naturally, more magical texts were produced during Gutenbergs little heyday than the rest of history to that point. Culturally though, I think we can actually ascribe a lot of that image of the book-laden Magician in his Library to Shakespeare's Prospero. A character almost surely based on John Dee, who had a similar proclivity for tomes of esoterica.
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