What Is Name Divination (Seimei Handan)? Japan’s Stroke-Count Fortune-Telling, Unraveled Down to Differences in Schools and Character Forms
A gentle guide to name divination: Kumazaki's five kaku, the 81 numbers, why stroke counts differ, examples and our tool's method.
Why Was the Kitchen’s Kojin, Guardian of the Fire, Feared as a God Who Curses?
Kojin guards the hearth yet is said to curse if slighted. From glaring hearth masks to Sanbo Kojin, we read what people entrusted to the kitchen god.
Inou Mononoke Roku: A Real Boy’s 30-Day Record of Supernatural Terror
Miyoshi, Hiroshima: in 1749, a 16-year-old named Inou Heitaro recorded 30 straight nights of hauntings, one of Japan's most detailed real accounts.
What Is Kyusei Kigaku (Nine Star Ki)? Reading Temperament from the Nine Stars of Your Birth Year, from the Luoshu to Japan’s Kigaku
A gentle guide to Kyusei Kigaku: origins from the Luoshu to Kigaku, the nine stars, how to find yours, examples and our own take.
Why Does “Kitsune no Yomeiri” Mean Both a Sun Shower and a Line of Lights Moving Across a Mountain at Night?
Rain from a clear sky and a line of lights on a night mountain: why are both called a fox wedding? We read weddings and boundaries.
Yamata no Orochi: The Memory of a Raging River Hidden in a Monster-Slaying Myth
The Yamata no Orochi myth of Izumo, Shimane: Susanoo gets the serpent drunk and wins the Kusanagi sword, plus the raging-river theory and our view.
What Is Crow Call Divination? Why People Heard Fortune and Prayer in a Crow’s Cry
A beginner's guide to crow call divination: the karasu-naki superstition, Yatagarasu, Kumano's Goō Hōin, Huginn and Muninn, and our own readings.
Why Was Peering Through the Gap in Your Fingers, the Fox Window, Said to Reveal a Monster’s True Form?
Is the fox window (kitsune no mado) dangerous, and does it work? We trace the finger charm from Edo children's play to its chant and online legend.
The Ushioni Legend of Ushimado: A Grudge Slain Once Came Back in Another Form
Okayama's Ushimado legend: the grudge of the slain demon Jinrinki returns as the Ushioni, and its defeat site Ushimarobi becomes the town's name.
What Is Mole Reading? What People Have Read in the Small Marks They Cannot Choose
A beginner's guide to mole reading: Chinese physiognomy, Mizuno Nanboku, hahakuso, beauty patches, and how to read positions with our no-photo tool.