Kami
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Kami (disambiguation).
- "Megami" redirects here. For other uses, see Megami (disambiguation).
Kami (神?) is the Japanese word for the objects of worship or awe in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity," Shinto scholars point out that such a translation can cause a serious misunderstanding of the term (Ono, 1962). In some instances, such as Izanagi and Izanami, kami are personified deities, similar to the gods of ancient Greece or Rome. In other cases, such as those concerning the phenomenon of growth and natural objects, the spirits dwelling in trees, or forces of nature, translating "kami" exclusively as "god" or "deity" would be a gross mischaracterization.
Kami may, at its root, simply mean 'spirit', or an aspect of spirituality. It is written with the kanji "神", Sino-Japanese reading shin; in Chinese, the character is used to refer to various nature spirits of traditional Chinese religion, but not to the Taoist deities or the Supreme Being.
In its usage within Shinto, the word is an honorific (See: Japanese titles and Japanese honorifics) for noble, sacred spirits, which implies a sense of respect or adoration for their virtues and authority. Since all beings have such spirits, human beings (and indeed all beings) could be considered kami or potential kami. However, because the Japanese almost never use an honorific to refer to themselves or to a member of a group to which they belong, it is uncommon for a normal human being to be referred to as a kami (Ono, 1962).
Because Japanese does not normally distinguish singular and plural in nouns, it is sometimes unclear whether kami refers to a single or multiple entities. When a plural concept is absolutely necessary, the term "kami-gami" (神々?) or "kami-tachi" (神達?) is used. Female kami are sometimes referred to as "megami" (女神?). It is often said that there are "yaoyorozu-no-kami (八百万の神 eight-million Kami?)—in Japanese the number "eight-million" is often used to imply infinity.
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[edit] Shinto belief and kami
</div>"Kami" are the central objects of worship for the Shinto faith. Shinto began as the various ancient animistic folk religions of Japan, and only became a unified religion in response to the influences of other religions brought into Japan from abroad. Thus, the concept of kami was developed first in various regional folk religions before being unified into the single religion of Shinto. As a result, the nature of what can be called "kami" is very broad 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 common people.
There are other spirits designated as kami as well. For example, the guardian spirits of the land, occupations, and skills; spirits of Japanese heroes, men of outstanding deeds or virtues, and those who have contributed to civilization, culture and human welfare; those who have died for the state or the community (See: Yasukuni Shrine); and the pitiable dead. Not only spirits superior to man can be considered kami, but also spirits that are considered pitiable or weak have been considered kami in Shinto.
The concept of kami has been changed and refined since ancient times, although anything that was considered to be kami by ancient people will still be considered kami in "modern" Shinto. ("Modern" meaning since it was formalized into a unified religion under the influence of foreign religions like Buddhism.) Even within modern Shinto, there are no clearly defined criteria 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 kami-concept, rather than a difference in definitions.
In the ancient animistic religions, kami were understood as simply the divine forces of nature. Worshippers in ancient Japan revered creations of nature which exhibited a particular beauty and power such as waterfalls, mountains, boulders, animals, trees, grasses and even rice paddies. They strongly believed the spirits or resident kami deserved respect.
Although the ancient designations are still adhered to, in modern Shinto many priests also consider kami to be anthropomorphic spirits, with nobility and authority. These include such mythological figures as Amaterasu, the sun goddess of the Shinto pantheon. Although these kami can be considered deities, they are not considered omnipotent or omniscient. In the myths of Amaterasu, for example, she could not see the events of the human world. She also had to use divination rituals to see the future.
The kami traditionally possessed two souls, one gentle (nigi-mitama) and the other aggressive (ara-mitama). This human but powerful form of kami was also divided into amutsu-kami ("the heavenly deities") and kunitsu-kami ("the gods of the earthly realm"). A deity would behave differently according to which soul was in control at a given time. In many ways, this was representative of nature's sudden changes and would explain why there were kami for every meteorological event: snowfall, rain, typhoons, floods, lightning and volcanoes.
The ancestors of a particular family can also be worshipped as kami. In this sense, these kami were worshipped not because of their godly powers, but because of a distinct quality or value. These kami were regional and many shrines (hokora) were built in honour of these kami. In many cases, people who once lived can thus be deified as gods; an example of this is Tenjin, who was Sugawara no Michizane (845-903) in life.
In his 1946 Ningen-sengen radio broadcast, the emperor Hirohito declared that he is not an akitsumikami (manifest kami). However, after this declaration, Hirohito asked for permission from the occupying forces to worship his ancestors, and, upon receiving permission, he worshipped Amaterasu, thus implying that he was of divine descent.
[edit] Kami in popular culture
In the 2004 expansion to Magic: The Gathering, entitled Champions of Kamigawa, kami and Shinto are the basis for the ongoing storyline of the series. The set has stayed surprisingly true to the Japanese mythology, using actual kami names instead of inventing ones [citation needed]. In Kamigawa, the Kami have been angered by the actions of a human lord. This anger has sparked the "Kami War", in which the noble kami spirits turn against their human worshippers.
In another card game, Legend of the Five Rings, the religion of the official fiction, heavily derivative of real-world Eastern Religion, places great emphasis on the veneration of Kami for each of the five "Rings": Air, Earth, Fire, Water and Void. Often anthropomorphic and always behaving in a manner associated with their "Ring", they were powerful forces prayed to for great power by spellcasters, or Shugenja.
In the Dragon Ball anime and manga series, the alien being who watches and protects the earth bears the name Kami.
Another of the most popular anime and manga series is Kosuke Fujishima's work Aa! Megami-Sama, known in English as Ah! My Goddess or Oh My Goddess!.
In the One Piece Anime and Manga Series, the land of Skypiea is ruled by a leader with the title of Kami-sama. This title was assumed by only two people, Gan Fall and Eneru. One would assume the reason for this would be because Skypiea is a land that is much like Heaven.
The first game of the Megami Tensei ("Reincarnation of the Goddess") computer role-playing game series featured a character who was the reincarnation of the Shinto kami Izanami.
In the online game Ultima Online, a demonic entity known as "Kami of Drought" has appeared in the Asian-themed continent of the Tokuno islands found in that game's map. Though, the relationship between the kami of the Shinto religion and this demonic entity seems to stop at the name.
Another MMORPG, The Saga of Ryzom, has a faction where the gods, who protect the planet, are called the Kami. In this game, they are spirits that can use magic, teleportation, and can take any visual appearance.
The television anime series Kamichu, which featured a young girl who became a kami overnight.
The "Old Powers" featuring in Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books could also be identified as Kami, in that they are consciousness in the form of stones, hills, or caverns, although LeGuin seems more influenced by Taoism.
James Clavell's Thrump-o-Moto involves a "Kami Tree" which is "as tall as the sky and golden red". This description has led readers to imagine that the Sequoia trees also possess kami.
Hayao Miyazaki's films My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away all feature kami and yōkai, or beings that have much in common with them. A few of them are taken from Shintoism, some are completely new creations, and many others are original interpretations of traditionally abstract kami.
Amaterasu Omikami is the protagonist of the 2006 PS2 game Okami. There is also a character in the game named after and based on Susanoo.
[edit] Some notable kami
- Izanagi, the first man
- Izanami, the first woman
- Sarutahiko, kami of earth
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Ono, Sokyo (1962). Shinto: The Kami Way. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-8048-3557-8.
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