Turtle Shell Divination to Decide Yuki and Suki Prefectures

[Ross Bender]

The ancient practice of tortoise/turtle shell divination continues. In Shoku Nihongi turtle divination is mentioned in 708 as helping to establish the site for the new capital of Nara ( Wadō 1.2.11) In Farris' translation of the passage  “three mountains establish a bastion and the divining rods and the tortoise both follow Our desire.”  (Farris 1998 159)   Although Shoku Nihongi gives ample evidence of the selection of Yuki and Suki provinces in the 8th century it does not specify the method of divination. Carmen Blacker stated that "Divination by turtle was the method used by the official diviners attached to the Emperor's court for some 1200 years , from the middle 7th century until 1868." She uses an essay by Ban Nobutomo from 1844 titled Seibokukō in her description of the procedure. (Loewe and Blacker, Oracles and Divination, Shambala 1981.

A 2015 article by Stephan Kory in JJRS describes the transition from scapulimancy to turtle shell divination which the author claims took place in the Nara-Heian Transition.  https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/4459  He argues that the evidence in the Wei Zhi accounts does not necessarily refer to plastromancy, and although he traces some of the archeological evidence, his main source is the  Shinsen Kisōki  by a member of the Urabe family dated to 830.

While the turtle as a sacred and ominous creature during the Nara period is well-established (three turtle nengō  and numerous presentations to the court of auspicious tortoises, there is no description (as far as I have seen) of the actual procedure of plastromancy. I'd be curious to hear of other evidence than what Kory provides for the procedure. Perhaps something in the Fudoki?

Turtle-shell divination conducted at Imperial Palace in Tokyo ahead of key succession rite

KYODO

• MAY 13, 2019

An imperial divination rite using turtle shells was held Monday to prepare for the most important ceremony to be performed by Emperor Naruhito upon his enthronement.

In the Saiden Tentei no Gi ritual at the Imperial Palace, diviners observed the cracks that appeared when turtle shells were heated in order to select two prefectures — Tochigi and Kyoto — that will supply crops for the upcoming Daijosai offering ceremony in mid-November.

 https://www.japantimes.co.jp/tag/saiden-tentei-no-gi/

From the Jinja Honcho:

Before the Daijosai is held, two sacred rice fields (saiden) are selected to provide the harvest offerings for the kami. The saiden are established in two places selected from throughout the country and are called the Yukiden and Sukiden. Although these names have the same pronunciation as the names of the halls in the Daijokyu, the "den” here refers to a rice field, not a hall.

For the Saiden Tentei no Gi ceremony, an ancient form of divination called "kiboku” is performed in the Imperial Palace. A turtle shell is heated, and the will of the kami is determined from the way in which cracks appear in the shell. Based on this, one prefecture is chosen as the Yuki Region and another as the Suki Region. The specific sites of the Yukiden and Sukiden fields are then chosen from within these regions. The owners of the saiden (otanushi) take on the important responsibilities of raising, harvesting, and presenting the rice on behalf of the nation.

Kiboku, The Choice of Saiden

Tortoise shell divination, in which a turtle shell is heated and good or ill fortune is determined from the pattern of cracks that appear, has a long history with excavated relics dating back to the fifth century. Around a thousand years ago it was performed whenever the Imperial Court faced a crisis, but it went into decline about eight hundred years ago, and is now said to be only performed on the island of Tsushima, in western Japan.

https://www.jinjahoncho.or.jp/en/miyogawari/#a12  

Ross Bender

https://independent.academia.edu/RossBender