Seimei Shrine

Abe Seimei Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Abe no Motomachi, Abeno Ward, Osaka City, enshrining Abe no Seimei, a Heian-period onmyōji (yin-yang diviner) as its main deity. The shrine is a subsidiary of Abeno Ōji Shrine and is believed to grant protection from fire and other hardships, ward off misfortune, bring good relationships, support learning and the arts, and ensure safe childbirth. Abe no Seimei was said to read the heavens to divine all things, and legends also describe him summoning and commanding spirits known as shikigami; such tales are recorded in works like Konjaku Monogatari. Shrine tradition says it was founded in 1007 after Seimei’s death, built on the site believed to be his birthplace. Because it lay along the Kumano Kaidō route, many people visited in the Edo period. It later declined with the fall of the shrine’s hereditary family, and by the Meiji era only a small shrine and a stone marker reading “Birthplace of Abe no Seimei” remained. A revival plan emerged in the late Meiji period, and in 1921 it was officially recognized as a subsidiary shrine of Abe Ōji Shrine. The grounds include a fortune-telling consultation corner, a stone called the “Harami-ishi” said to help ensure safe childbirth, and a statue of Abe no Seimei.