Kyoto Geomancy
Designing a perfect city
Published February 2024
Though perhaps not many people may realize it, Kyoto is a city that is ideally situated—from the viewpoint of an Oriental geomancer, that is—to ensure the peace and tranquility of its inhabitants.
To understand Kyoto’s perfect location, one needs to have a basic understanding of the foundation ideas of Feng Shui or Chinese geomancy. On a broad level, the directions of the compass were thought to be connected with the principles of ying and yang.
Since the light principle rises, like heat, and is symbolized by the sun, it is connected with the south. South is symbolized by a phoenix or Suzaku. It has five large tail feathers to represent the five elements (Earth, Metal, Wood, Fire, and Water) and five colors for the same reason. The south is synonymous with red, the color of happiness and festivity, and the lucky odd number 7.
Meanwhile, the dark principle sinks, like cold, is symbolized by water and the moon, and is connected with the north which is represented by the unlucky even number 6 and by a Tortoise, or Genbu. All evil is said to come from the north or northeast, and whenever possible settlements and graveyards were situated with a mountain range to the north for protection. In Japan, corpses are laid out with their heads towards the north and superstitious people won’t sleep in that position.
In China there are snow-covered mountains in the west where tigers were known to live. This direction is therefore represented by a white tiger or Byakko, which in turn represents the negative female principle and the lucky odd number 9, autumn, and the element Metal.
The Blue Dragon, or Seiryu, is symbolic of the east. If you visit the Heian Shrine in Kyoto, you will notice a statue of a dragon on your right and one of a tiger on your left. The buildings behind them are named the “Seiryu-den” or Blue Dragon Hall and the Byakko-den or the “White Tiger Hall.” East is an unlucky direction and so has an even number which is 8.
The ideal site for a city should, according to the geomancers of Emperor Kanmu’s time in the 8th century, be protected by mountains from the evil influences of the north and should have one mountain range to the east representing the Blue Dragon and another to the west representing the White Tiger. The perfect city should also be open to the south in order not to deter good from entering it.
Emperor Kanmu’s Heiankyo was like an old Japanese coin: round, with a square hole in the middle. The outer part, the surroundings of the perfect city, was representative of Heaven; the square hole in the center was the earth, or the city itself which was divided into nine, smaller, numbered squares which formed a Chinese magic square.
The most obvious virtue of the magic square is that the numbers in any rank, file or diagonal add up to 15, which is the number of days in each of the 24 divisions of the solar year. Lucky odd numbers are found at the cardinal points and unlucky even numbers are situated at the inter-cardinal points.
In temples, the number 1 square in the north was reserved for images of the gods and in the original layout of the city of Kyoto it was occupied by the Imperial Palace and its grounds. Eight, one of the unluckiest numbers in the square, is appropriately located in the northeast corner.