Directions and the eto

1.The branches and their directions

In Japanese the diagonal directions are named after the two branches between them: the northeast is ushitora, “Ox–Tiger”, the southeast tatsumi, “Dragon–Snake”, the southwest hitsujisaru, “Goat–Monkey”, and the northwest inui, “Dog–Pig”.

2.Kimon and ura-kimon

The northeast, Ox–Tiger, is the kimon (鬼門), the “demon gate”, and the opposite southwest, Goat–Monkey, is the ura-kimon, the “back demon gate”. Onmyōdō taught that evil spirits come and go through them, so they have long been treated with caution.

Japanese demons (oni) are drawn with the horns of an ox and a loincloth of tiger skin. That, it is said, is because the demon gate lies in the direction of the Ox and the Tiger. In the old capital of Heian-kyō (Kyoto), Enryakuji temple on Mount Hiei, to the northeast, was regarded as the guardian of the city’s demon gate.

3.The meridian

The line joining the Rat (north) and the Horse (south) is shigosen, the “Rat–Horse line”, the Japanese word for a meridian. The 135° east meridian that sets Japan Standard Time runs through Akashi in Hyōgo Prefecture, among other places.

4.Ehō and lucky directions

The direction where the god of good fortune, Toshitokujin, lives each year is the ehō, familiar from the ehōmaki rolls eaten at Setsubun. In the Nine Star Ki reading, personal lucky directions are worked out from the star of your birth year.