Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Later the kami's animal familiar became a common symbol of the kami itself. For example, the foxes at Inari shrines was worshipped as a manifestation of Inari Ōkami . These creatures were thought to be extraordinary spiritual beings, and this perception, combined with their relationship with the specific kami , likely gave rise to this phenomenon.
Musubi-no-Kami (結びの神, lit. ' deity of binding ') – One of the Shinto kami of creation; also known as the kami of matchmaking, love, and marriages. Musuhi – A term in Shinto for the spiritual influences that produces all the things in the universe and helps them develop and complete their cycle. Myōjin (明神, lit.
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).
Azumi-no-isora (阿曇磯良) is a kami of the seashore. He is considered to be the ancestor of the Azumi people. Dojin (土神), is a Japanese god of earth, land, and/or soil. [citation needed] Futodama (布刀玉命) is a kami who performed a divination when Amaterasu hid in a cave. [16] Futsunushi (経津主神) Main deity at Katori Shrine.
For the first few centuries, then, Tenjin was seen as a god of natural disasters, worshiped to placate him and avoid his curses.However, Michizane was a famous poet and scholar in his lifetime, one of the greatest of the Heian period, and in the Edo period scholars and educators came to regard him as a patron of scholarship.
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]
Dōsojin represented as a human couple.. Dōsojin (道祖神, literally, "road ancestor deity") is a generic name for a type of Shinto kami popularly worshipped in Kantō and neighboring areas in Japan where, as tutelary deities of borders and paths, they are believed to protect travellers, pilgrims, villages, and individuals in "transitional stages" from epidemics and evil spirits.