ONMYOJI

Twenty-six Japanese tales of the onmyōji — the diviners who read dreams, omens, forbidden days, and the shape of misfortune for the imperial court.

In old Japan, disaster could have a direction. A dream might reveal a murderer hidden inside a house. A forbidden day could keep a man alive — or nearly get him killed. When the sky changed, the earth answered, or a dead body refused to decay, someone was expected to read the sign and give an answer.

These are not twenty-six versions of one legendary magician. The diviner may be an officer of the Bureau of Yin and Yang, a provincial monk, a village practitioner, an astronomer watching the sky, or a nameless man called when a household has exhausted every ordinary answer. Some save lives. Some can only name what cannot be prevented.