What are shikigami? From stories to video games

Chitoku, a monk from Harima, arrives with two young companions. His apparently polite visit conceals a test. Seimei suspects the companions are shikigami and hides them. When Chitoku tries to leave, they are gone. He must return and seek help from the very person whose ability he meant to examine.

This summarises the Konjaku monogatari shū episode studied by Carolyn Pang in her research on shikigami. Pang finds varied uses and descriptions in early texts, resisting reduction to one creature. 'Spirit servant' does not exhaust the history: the term has also been connected with divinatory instruments, ritual operations and representations of ability. Pang, Uncovering Shikigami.

The scene works without telling us the color of the eyes of the young people. It also does not need a spectacular transformation. Its decisive element is an absence. Two presences that seemed to confirm the power of one visitor end up revealing that another has greater control over them.

Onmyōdō, onmyōji and shikigami: three different terms

The names need separating. Onmyōdō designates the tradition; onmyōji, its associated specialist; shikigami, something whose nature and relationship to that specialist must be examined in each text. They are not three names for one character. Today's definition of shikigami as a spirit servant controlled by an onmyōji is a useful starting point, but Pang cautions that it does not cover every historical use.

Ask which work and period a representation comes from. A video-game character's appearance cannot automatically fill the silences of a medieval tale. The distinction lets us read Chitoku's visit without demanding rules for a contemporary combat system. Pang, introduction, pp. 99–101.

A visit that changes ownership

The initial courtesy makes the reversal effective. Chitoku has a secret purpose; Seimei discovers it and responds without openly accepting the test's terms. Once the companions disappear, the relationship reverses. The evaluator must acknowledge dependence on something he could lose.

Young people occupy a peculiar narrative position. They have enough human appearance to accompany a person to a house, but their disappearance exposes another kind of bond. The story does not present them as independent travelers whose plans interest us. They are, first of all, an extension of the visitor’s capacity. That someone can separate them from him amounts to intervening in that capacity.

This tells authority through relationships. No mountain needs lifting: leaving someone alone who arrived with companions is enough. The episode's small scale enables precision. A doorway, a visit and the expectation of leaving together create a confrontation.

There is restrained comedy too. The test was meant to remain hidden from its subject; it becomes so obvious that the examiner must apologise. The supposed arbiter loses control. Embarrassment replaces battle, making Seimei's superiority seem calmer still.

What a servant lets us imagine

'Servant' opens questions a quick translation as 'demon' can prematurely close. A servant is defined by relationships, expectations and authority to command. 'Monster' directs attention towards appearance or threat. Neither word alone supplies the story's entire logic.

Visual uncertainty also leaves room for readers. If the companions' bodies announced their extraordinary nature, Seimei's exceptional perception would have less to discover. Their ordinary appearance sustains the secret. Discretion helps construct admiration.

This does not mean every early figure called shikigami had that form. The episode offers a specific literary solution: companions who can be recognised, hidden and returned. Turning it into a universal entry with fixed anatomy and rules changes the kind of object being read.

A scene painted centuries later

The Asian Art Museum holds a painting catalogued as Abe Seimei performing a ritual, from Legend of the crying Fudo, dated 1333–1392, in ink and colours on paper. This is another appearance of Seimei in a religious narrative after his lifetime, showing that his authority could be made visible through images. Asian Art Museum, B65D46.

The title of the museum is sufficient to indicate a change of medium, without attributing to each painted figure an identity that we have not established here. An image needs to decide where to place the bodies and how to make an action recognizable. The written account, for its part, can postpone the description and reserve a revelation for a phrase. Both produce presence, but distribute the information in different ways.

In a story of beings who can remain hidden, that difference is central. The invisible can be the content of a perfectly visible narrative. Painting or describing a ritual operation does not require showing everything to which its characters attribute effects. The viewer can understand that an action matters for the attention of those who participate, for the disposition of space or for its position within a sequence.

From the escort to the team

The official Onmyoji game website presents shikigami as spirits summoned to fight alongside the player, emphasising their team abilities. Elsewhere its Seimei is a famous Kyoto figure who has lost his memory. These are premises of contemporary interactive fiction, explicitly presented by the producer. Onmyoji, Shikigami and Seimei.

The adaptation turns a mysterious relationship into a relationship that must be played. A team needs recognizable differences, choices and consequences. The character that could be interesting in a story by not being immediately identified acquires value as someone to be recognized. His ability becomes a visible part of the player’s decision.

This does more than increase spectacle. It changes the recipient's position. Readers watch Seimei display a superiority they cannot control. Players are promised intervention, choice of allies and action through them. Distance from the specialist shrinks: some of his authority becomes participatory.

This transformation explains why the same word can suggest such different images depending on where it was first found. For someone it will be a barely described presence; for another person, a character with specific voice, design and capabilities. The two experiences are part of their cultural circulation, although they do not document the same time or practice.

The other side of the door

Return to the two companions. What is memorable is not a list of powers but the moment someone discovers that presumed support has vanished. The story makes hierarchy visible through what can no longer be seen.

Shikigami thus imagine power as a relationship that can be broken, transferred or revealed by another. From a literary visit to an on-screen team, they ask who acts, who commands and who merely seems to accompany. Their history changes because those questions permit new scenes.

Sources and references

• Carolyn Pang, Uncovering Shikigami: The Search for the Spirit Servant of Onmyōdō, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 40/1, 2013, especially pp. 99–108.
• Asian Art Museum, Abe Seimei performing a ritual, B65D46.
• NetEase, Shikigami, Onmyoji and Seimei.