directional taboo avoidance; Heian-period travel custom
Archaic term for a Heian-period practice: departing the night before a planned journey, traveling in a different direction to avoid an unlucky direction, staying overnight, and then proceeding to the actual destination the next morning. Related to 方塞がり (katatagari), the unlucky directional taboo itself.
During the Heian period, people often performed katatagae before setting out on a journey.
Compound of 方 (kata, 'direction') and 違え (tagae, the nominalized stem of 違える 'to change, to avoid'). The term is historically associated with Heian-period onmyōdō practices.