Tsuchimikado Yasutomi (土御門泰福)
Yasutomi TSUCHIMIKADO (July 23, 1655-July 25, 1717) was Kugyo (a court noble, non-Councilor) and Inyoka (the Yin and Yang school of philosophy) during the early Edo period. He is said to be the son of Yasuhiro TSUCHIMIKADO and became a son-in-law of Yasuhiro's younger brother, Takatoshi TSUCHIMIKADO, however, there is here say that his real father was Takatoshi or Yasushige TSUCHIMIKADO (father of Yasuhiro and Takatoshi). His sons are Yasumasa TSUCHIMIKADO, Yasutsura TSUCHIMIKADO and Yasukuni TSUCHIMIKADO, and so on. He is generally known as the originator of the Tsuchimikado Shinto (Shinto of Tsuchimikado school).
He became a successor of Yasushige due to the death of Yasuhiro and Takatoshi and succeeded the reign of the family by the death of Yasushige in 1661.
The Tsuchimikado family (the Abe clan) served as Onmyo no kami (Director of Onmyoryo, or Bureau of Divination) for generations, however, the post was transferred by Yasushige TSUCHIMIKADO to the Kotokui family at the beginning of Edo period, and after that, the conflicts over the authenticity of the control of the Onmyoji long lasted between Yasushige who was requiring to return the post of Director and the Kotokui family, but who was rejected the return. In 1670 when Yasutomi passed the genpuku ceremony and was designated as Shorokuinoge Kurodo (Senior Sixth Rank, Lower Grade, Chamberlain) and Konoefu (the Headquarters of the Inner Palace Guards), the disputes occurred again with Tomohiro KOTOKUI regarding Onmyoji no kami, however, Tomohiro died suddenly at the age of 35 in 1682, and the Edo bakufu shogunate which arbitrated the conflicts handed down the ruling that the son of Tomohiro was too young to execute the post, thus Yasutomi who was at Jugoinojo Hyobu-shoyu (Junior Fifth Rank, Upper Grade, junior assistant minister of the Hyobusho Ministry of Military) acceded the post, and in the next year, he was authorized to control and license the Onmyoji of the whole country. Later, he was positioned to the Togu-shoshin (an official of the Crown Prince's Quarters). During the kaireki (changing of calendar) in 1684, though he once asserted to adopt the Daito calendar, later he admitted that the Jokyo reki (Jokyo calendar) of Harumi SHIBUKAWA who was a scholar belonging to the same school as Yasutomi of Ansai YAMAZAKI was superior and reported the fact to the emperor to perform, and in 1689, he put pressure upon the Kotokui family and had them promised to be respectful to the Tsuchimikado family as the originator of Onmyodo and controlled the Kotokui family. With this achievement, he was appointed to Jusanmi (Junior Third Rank) in 1698 and promoted to Junii (Junior Second Rank) in 1714.
And he studied Suika Shinto under Ansai YAMAZAKI and made ties with aforementioned Harumi, Fuyutsune ICHIJO and Sadayori NOMIYA. Further, he was influenced by them and established a new and unique Shinto theory (Tsuchimikado Shinto) by combining Onmyodo and Shinto. However, Harumi SHIBUKAWA who was virtually the head of kaireki work was nominated by the Edo bakufu and to become a Tenmonkata (astronomer appointed by the bakufu), the center of kaireki work had been moved to Edo.
He died at the age of 63 and his grave is at Shinnyo-do Temple in Kyoto.