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Interesting that we have been talking quite a bit about Shamanism in East Asia the past couple of weeks. This week, I just saw a Japanese movie called "Onmyoji" which revolves around Shamanism in Japan.
The movie is based in Japan's Heian period. One of the shamans (Doson, played by that grumpy Japanese guy that beats up Tom Cruise at every opportunity in Prof. Notehelfer's favorite movie "The Last Samurai") that was supposed to protect the emperor ends up betraying the emperor and tries to take power by using evil magic. A good Onmyoji (Seimei) is then recruited by a court noble to battle the evil Onmyoji (Doson) and save the emperor's heir to the throne.
For being a 2001 film I thought the special effects could have been much better. The movie was entertaining, but the special effects could have been more convincing and fluid. Nonethless, if you are interested in seeing a film about Shamanism in Japan, this would be a movie that would fall in this category. I can't recommend a better one, because I don't know of another one, but maybe someone who is actually reading this does know of one.
I read up on the movie to find out more about some of the things I saw (mainly to find out what the heck "Onmyoji" meant 
. I found out that Onmyoji was the second highest grossing film of 2001 in Japan behind "Spirited Away."
I also found out that there is a sequel in the making. Oh and by the way the word "Onmyoji" means this: "A practitioner and/or master of "Onmyodo," the craft which uses the Yin and Yang principle to interpret between natural and unnatural phenomena and astrological occurrences to foresee the fortunes of humans (in other words a shaman).
After seeing the movie, I was curious as to whether or not the Heian emperors really did have Onmyoji in their courts to protect them from "evil." Was this true back in history or did the filmakers just add it into the film to make it more interesting? If anybody can answer this, please let me know, otherwise I'll have to research it myself.
I did some research, and found out that Seimei (the good Onmyoji) was a real Onmyoji who lived in Kyoto from 921-1005 AD. I still wonder though if it was common for every emperor to have Onmyoji (or more than one).