From a time not long after his death, there have been numerous legends about Seimei over-exaggerating his distinctiveness that 'he understood the language birds spoke,' 'his mother was a white fox named 'Kuzu no ha (Kuzu Leaf) living in the woods in Shinoda,' and 'he was an androgyny' and, in addition, Seimei has been the subject of countless literary works including Kojidan, Okagami, Uji shuin monogatari, Kokonchomonju, Konjaku monogatari shu, Taigensho, Nihongiryaku, Gonki, Heika monogatari (the Tale of the Taira clan), Oeyama ekotoba, Genko shakusho, Genpei seisuiki, Hosshinshu, Hojo kudaiki (Records of nine generations of the Hojo clan) and Shishuhyakuinnenshu, the topic for kabuki or bunraku such as Shinodazuma, Ashiya Doman ouchi kagami and Kanazoshi Abe no Seimei monogatari, the main character of the novels written by YUMEMAKURA Baku, comics created by OKANO Reiko, many movies and TV shows as well as computer games over the period from the Middle Ages to modern times and today.
また、没後かなり早い段階から“鳥が話す言葉を理解できた”、“母は信田の森に棲む「葛葉」という白狐だった”、“両性具有者だった”など、その超人ぶりと特異性をあまりにも誇張した数多くの伝説が残っており、古事談・大鏡・宇治拾遺物語・古今著聞集・今昔物語集・體源抄・日本紀略・権記・平家物語・大江山絵詞・元亨釈書・源平盛衰記・発心集・北条九代記・私聚百因縁集、歌舞伎や文楽の題目信田妻・蘆屋道満大内鑑、仮名草子安倍清明物語、はては近年の夢枕獏による小説や岡野玲子による漫画、数多くの映画化・ドラマ化やゲームのキャラクターなど、中世から近世・現代に至るまであまたの著作の題材として取り上げられている。