Although some members of the family had been appointed as onmyo no kami (Director of Onmyoryo, or Bureau of Divination) as aristocratic bureaucrats, Seimei was the first to be assigned a job relating to onmyodo and tenmondo as an expert bureaucrat.
貴族官僚として陰陽頭に任じられた人物はいるものの、専門官僚として陰陽道・天文道の官に就いたのは晴明が最初であったと考えられている。