Asymmetric Time: Keisei’s Oracular Conversations with the Great Tengu of Mount Hira

Abstract In 1239, Keisei 慶政 (1189–1268), a high-ranking aristocratic monk, led three conversations with a tengu , an ambivalent kind of mountain spirits, in the hope of understanding what caused the sudden illness of his brother Michiie 道家 (1193–1252). The two brothers belonged to the Kujō family, which was at the apex of its political power and influence at the time. Keisei recorded these conversations in a document called the Oracle of the Old Man of Hirasan ( Hirasan kojin reitaku 比良山古人霊宅). Apart from the urgent matter of Michiie’s health, Keisei seized the opportunity to ask questions that went beyond the sole fate of his brother and his family, probing the spirit for answers reaching both into the past and the future. This article has two main objectives. On the one hand, it aims at reflecting on the ways in which oracular discourses act on the perception of time in the specific context of the dialogue between Keisei and the Great Tengu. On the other hand, it looks at what the staging and content of these conversations reveal about the fate of the Kujō family at a crucial moment in their history.