Heavy metal was invented in Britain and has always loved a monster. Onmyo-za had the idea of using Japan’s own.

The Concept

The band formed in Osaka in 1999. Its name, 陰陽座, means something like “gathering of yin and yang.” It refers to Onmyodo, the old Japanese cosmology of paired, opposing forces.

The concept is called yokai heavy metal. The songs are about yokai, the spirits and creatures of Japanese folklore, along with oni, dragons and figures from old tales. The lyrics are written in a classical, literary Japanese. The members perform in clothing modelled on the Heian period, about a thousand years ago.

Underneath all of that the music is orthodox heavy metal, mixed with Japanese folk melody and a good deal of pop craft.

The Pairs

The name is built into the lineup. There are two singers, a woman and a man: Kuroneko and the bassist and leader Matatabi, who writes most of the songs. There are two guitarists, Maneki and Karukan.

Even the stage names are a running joke. Kuroneko means black cat. Matatabi is written with characters meaning “flash fire,” and is also the word for silver vine, a plant cats adore. Maneki recalls the beckoning cat of Japanese shop counters. A band this serious about its concept has been hiding cats in its credits for twenty-five years.

The Albums

The first album, 鬼哭転生, came out on 5 December 1999. The band made its major-label debut in December 2001 and has been with King Records since.

The rise was slow and steady. 煌神羅刹 reached number 49 on the Oricon chart in 2002. 鳳翼麟瞳 reached 23 in 2003. 魔王戴天 reached 13 in 2007, and 魑魅魍魎, in 2008, was the first to enter the top ten, at number 9.

It has been back there three times: 風神界逅 reached number 10 in 2014, 迦陵頻伽 number 7 in 2016, and 龍凰童子 number 6 in 2023. The 2025 album, 吟澪御前, came out on 6 August. That makes seventeen.

The Moments

In May 2004 the band played a Noh theatre, the first rock band to do so. In 2005 its song “甲賀忍法帖” became the theme of the anime Basilisk, and for many listeners outside the metal world it is still the song they know.

The drummer Tora left in 2009, and the band has worked with a support drummer since. In early 2020 it suspended activity when Kuroneko was diagnosed with sudden hearing loss, and then returned.

Why It Matters

Other Japanese bands have followed this path since, Rakshasa among them. Onmyo-za cut it, and has walked it for a quarter of a century without changing direction.

Start with “甲賀忍法帖,” then 魑魅魍魎.