McFidget

I just finished reading the first novel (or first 2 novels depending on the edition) in the Teito Monogatari series by HIroshi Aramata. Despite it never having been translated into English, it's very likely you've encountered its influence in some form.

And they spend whole chapters talking at length about, say, an 8th century envoy to Tang China, the founder of the Shugendo sect of esoteric buddhism, or obsessing over the minutia of urban planning.

I just finished reading the first novel (or first 2 novels depending on the edition) in the Teito Monogatari series by HIroshi Aramata. Despite it never having been translated into English, it's very likely you've encountered its influence in some form.

Maybe in characters based on the iconic villain such as Street Fighter's M. Bison, or in basically any modern Japanese occult fiction (if it includes onmyoji, shikigami, feng shui or Abe no Seimei it's likely inspired by Teito Monogatari).