ABSTRACT
Daoism is present as a series of fragments; as elements that inspired and framed cultural and especially political components of the state-building enterprise that occurred in the late seventh and early eighth centuries. Daoism entails a symbolic and philosophical understanding of the complexities and paradoxes of the world as a unity of dualities accompanied by the constancy of change. A number of events appear in the Kojiki and Nihon shoki that have a distinctly Daoist colouring. The Daoist origins of the Chinkon-sai became obscured. This change does not seem to have been motivated by any official effort to keep Daoism at bay. The Nara period involves a number of incidents on black magic similar to the Nagaya Incident took place, and all such plots were accompanied by accusations of subversion. The Nagaya Incident can be regarded as a culmination of increasing concern with the subversive use of magic, similar to incidents that took place in China several years earlier.
