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Kami may, at its root, simply mean spirit, or an aspect of spirituality. It is written with the kanji 神, Sino-Japanese reading shin or jin. In Chinese, the character means deity or spirit. [8] In the Ainu language, the word kamuy refers to an animistic concept very similar to Japanese kami.
Amatsukami (Japanese: 天津神, 天つ神, 'Kami of heaven') is a category of kami in Japanese mythology. Generally speaking, it refers to kami born in, or residing in, Takamagahara. Amatsukami is one of the three categories of kami, along with their earthly counterpart Kunitsukami (国津神, 国つ神), and yaoyorozu-no-kami (八百万の神).
Buddhist claims of superiority, however, encountered resistance; monks tried to overcome it by deliberately integrating kami in their system. [1] Japanese Buddhists themselves wanted to somehow give the kami equal status. [1] Several strategies to do this were developed and employed, and one of them was the honji suijaku theory. [1]
In shrines, even today stones considered to be related to the shrine's kami are used to make food offerings to the kami. [7] Similarly an iwasaka (磐境) is a stone altar or mound erected as a yorishiro to call a kami for worship. [8] The concepts of iwasaka and iwakura are so close that some suggest the two words are in fact synonymous. [8]
' Warehouse Great Light Kami '): A Shinto Kami in Akita Prefecture revered during the Kamakura festival. See also Suijin. Kami (神, lit. ' Spirit, God, Deity, Divinity ') – A term broadly meaning spirit or deity, but has several separate meanings: deities mentioned in Japanese mythologies and local deities protecting areas, villages and ...
Toshigami (年神 or 歳神, Toshigami or Tomo, lit. "year god"), also known as Ōtoshi-no-kami (大年神, lit. "great year god"), is a Japanese kami and a part of the Shinto pantheon. Etymology [ edit ]
Akitsumikami is often translated as "divine" or "divinity", but some Western scholars (including John W. Dower and Herbert P. Bix) explained that its real meaning is "manifest kami" (or, more generally, "incarnation of a god"), and that therefore the emperor would still be, according to the declaration, an arahitogami ("living god"), although not an akitsumikami ("manifest kami").
Izuna Gongen (飯網の権現), also called "Izuna Myōjin" and enshrined in Izuna Shrine in Nagano, is similar to a tengu and represents the kami of Mount Iizuna. [5]Izusan Gongen (伊豆山権現) or Hashiri-yu Gongen (走湯権現) is the spirit of a hot spring on Izusan, a hill in Shizuoka Prefecture, enshrined in the Izusan Jinja [6]