Geomancy FC 84, March 6, 2006
Geomancy
FC 84, March 6, 2006
Geomancy (Feng Shui)
• Handout from Village Japan
• Beliefs in directionality as a means of divining and (perhaps affecting) the interaction of the physical (and metaphysical world) on human affairs
• Underpinnings are Chinese T’aoistthinking about nature and metaphysics
Geomancy/Cosmology
North = black, kame (turtle)East = blue, ryu (dragon)South = red, byoo (phoenix)West = white, tora (tiger)
In Edo context, Mt. Tsukuba is the black turtleSumida River is the blue dragon
Earliest known map of Edo, 1632
Cosmology
• Reproduced (inverted) in Sumo rings• In cosmology ground is square and
heaven is round; • in sumo the ring is round and roof is
square,
the colored tassles are red, white, blue, black