Kami

thumb|upright|[[Amaterasu, one of the central kami in the Shinto faith]]

are the deities, divinities, spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. Kami can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, beings and the qualities that these beings express, and / or the spirits of venerated dead people. Many kami are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans (some ancestors became kami upon their death if they were able to embody the values and virtues of kami in life). Traditionally, great leaders like the Emperor could be or became kami.

In Shinto, kami are not separate from nature, but are of nature, possessing positive and negative, and good and evil characteristics. They are manifestations of , the interconnecting energy of the universe, and are considered exemplary of what humanity should strive towards. Kami are believed to be "hidden" from this world, and inhabit a complementary existence that mirrors our own: . To be in harmony with the awe-inspiring aspects of nature is to be conscious of . It has been used to describe mind, God, Supreme Being, one of the Shinto deities, an effigy, a principle, and anything that is worshipped.

Although deity is the common interpretation of kami, some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term.

Some etymological suggestions are:

Kami may, at its root, simply mean spirit, or an aspect of spirituality. It is written with the kanji , Sino-Japanese reading shin or jin. In Chinese, the character means deity or spirit.
In the Ainu language, the word kamuy refers to an animistic concept very similar to Japanese kami. The matter of the words' origins is still a subject of debate; John Batchelor derives the word from Ainu roots, but Japanese sources indicate a Japonic origin.

In terms of meaning, in his , Motoori Norinaga gave a definition of kami as: "any being whatsoever which possesses some eminent quality out of the ordinary, and is awe-inspiring, is called kami."

Because Japanese does not normally distinguish grammatical number in nouns (most do not have singular and plural forms), it is sometimes unclear whether kami refers to a single or multiple entities. When a singular concept is needed, is used as a suffix. The reduplicated term generally used to refer to multiple kami is kamigami.

Kami are of two minds. They can nurture and love when respected, or they can cause destruction and disharmony when disregarded. Kami must be appeased in order to gain their favor and avoid their wrath. Traditionally, kami possess two souls, one gentle (nigi-mitama) and the other assertive (ara-mitama); additionally, in Yamakage Shinto (see Ko-Shintō), kami have two additional souls that are hidden: one happy (saki-mitama) and one mysterious (kushi-mitama).

There is a strong tradition of myth-histories in the Shinto faith; one such myth details the appearance of the first emperor, grandson of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. In this myth, when Amaterasu sent her grandson to earth to rule, she gave him five rice grains, which had been grown in the fields of heaven (Takamagahara). This rice made it possible for him to transform the "wilderness". the ocean, echoes, The number of kami has grown and far exceeded this figure through the following generations as there are over 2,446,000 individual kami enshrined in Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine alone.

Shinto belief

Kami are the central objects of worship in Shinto. The best English translation of kami is 'spirits', but this is an over-simplification of a complex concept—kami can be elements of the landscape or forces of nature. Kami are believed to have influence over the forces of nature and over the affairs of humans. The ancient animistic spirituality of Japan was the beginning of modern Shinto, which became a formal spiritual institution later, in an effort to preserve the traditional beliefs from the encroachment of imported religious ideas. As a result, the nature of what can be called kami is very general and encompasses many different concepts and phenomena.

Some of the objects or phenomena designated as kami are qualities of growth, fertility, and production; natural phenomena like wind and thunder; natural objects like the sun, mountains, rivers, trees, and rocks; some animals; and ancestral spirits. Included within the designation of ancestral spirits are spirits of the ancestors of the Imperial House of Japan, but also ancestors of noble families, as well as the spirits of the ancestors of all people, which, when they died, were believed to be the guardians of their descendants. Not only spirits superior to humans can be considered kami: spirits that are considered pitiable or weak have also been considered kami in Shinto.

The concept of kami has been changed and refined since ancient times, although anything considered to be kami by ancient people will still be considered kami in modern Shinto. Even within modern Shinto, no clearly defined criteria exist for what should or should not be worshipped as kami. The difference between modern Shinto and the ancient animistic religions is mainly a refinement of the concept, rather than a difference in definitions.

Although the ancient designations are still adhered to, in modern Shinto, many priests also consider kami to be anthropomorphic spirits with nobility and authority. One such example is the mythological figure Amaterasu-ōmikami, the sun goddess of the Shinto pantheon. Although kami can be considered deities, they are not necessarily considered omnipotent or omniscient; like the ancient Greek gods, kami have flawed personalities and are incapable of ignoble acts. In the myths of Amaterasu, for example, she could see the events of the human world, but had to use divination rituals to see the future.

There are considered to be three main variations of kami: , , and . "" literally means eight million, but idiomatically it expresses "uncountably many" and "all-around"—like many East Asian cultures, the Japanese often use the number 8, representing the cardinal and ordinal directions, to symbolize ubiquity. These classifications of kami are not considered strictly divided, due to the fluid and shifting nature of kami, but are instead held as guidelines for grouping them. This purification can only be granted by the kami. To please the kami and earn magokoro, Shinto followers are taught to uphold the four affirmations of Shinto.

The first affirmation is to hold fast to tradition and one's family line. Family is seen as the main mechanism by which traditions are preserved. For instance, a given tradition may be observed and passed on to future generations at marriage or birth. The second affirmation is to have a love of nature. Nature objects are worshipped as sacred because the kami inhabit them. Therefore, to be in contact with nature means to be in contact with the gods. The third affirmation is to maintain physical cleanliness. Followers of Shinto take baths, wash their hands, and rinse out their mouths often. The last affirmation is to practice matsuri, which is the worship and honor given to the kami and ancestral spirits. As a result, Shinto followers are taught that humankind should venerate both the living and the nonliving, because both possess a divine superior spirit within: the kami.

Amatsukami and Kunitsukami

Amatsukami and Kunitsukami are categories of kami in Japanese mythology.

"Amatsukami" is a generic term for the gods in Takamagahara, or those who descended from Tenson kōrin, while "Kunitsukami" is a generic term for the gods who appeared on the earth (Ashihara no Nakatsukuni).

In Japanese mythology, the acceptance of the transfer of the land (Ashihara no Nakatsukuni) by the Kunitsukami to the Amatsu deities led by Ninigi-no-Mikoto is described as kuni-yuzuri. It is thought that the deity worshipped by the people of the region pacified by the Yamato Kingship (i.e., the Emishi, Hayato, etc.) became the Kunitsukami; the deities worshipped by the imperial family and powerful clans of the Yamato Kingship became the Amatsukami. The Chronicles of Japan give some references to earlier traditions (e.g., "Ichi Sho Saying" and "Aru Hon Yun" in most volumes of the Nihon Shoki), but the original recorded documents have been lost. Sometimes written "Amatsugami" or "Kunitsugami.

Amatsukami are also called Tenjin, and Kunitsukami are called . Some people believe that the names "" and "" are derived from the Chinese classics. A different theory that the concept is completely different and different from the Japanese one has been presented.

(Tenchi-Shinmei) is a Japanese four-character idiom that refers to the gods of heaven and earth. It is used in expressions such as "I swear by the gods of heaven and earth" and conveys a sense of reverence and commitment. However, he was later censored, as his position was considered too supportive of the rights of colonized peoples. The priesthood was traditionally hereditary. Some shrines have drawn their priests from the same families for over a hundred generations. It is not uncommon for the clergy to be female priestesses. Neither priests nor priestesses live as ascetics; in fact, it is common for them to be married,

Shinto believers practice many other rites of passage, and there are also many other festivals. The main reason for these ceremonies is so that Shinto followers can appease the kami in order to reach magokoro.

References

External links

Introduction: Kami; , Encyclopedia of Shinto
Kami, Gods of Japan
Evolution of the Concept of Kami , Itō Mikiharu

Shinto belief

Amatsukami and Kunitsukami

See also

References

Further reading

External links