Shinto
Kami
Image: Jakub Hałun / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Overview
| Japanese name | 神 |
|---|---|
| Tradition | Shinto |
| Refers to | Sacred beings, presences, powers, and phenomena |
| May include | Deities, ancestors, natural forces, places, and objects |
Kami (Japanese: 神) are the sacred beings, presences, and powers revered in Shinto. The term can refer to figures in mythology, features and forces of nature, ancestors, tutelary beings, or historical people who have been enshrined. “Deity” is often the most practical English gloss, but no single translation covers every use. Kami are not necessarily all-powerful creators, morally perfect beings, or members of one fixed pantheon.
Meaning and translation
In Japanese, kami can be singular or plural, and its meaning depends on context. English descriptions have used “god,” “spirit,” “divinity,” and “sacred presence.” Each captures part of the concept but can import assumptions from other religious traditions. The Japan Tourism Agency therefore recommends retaining the Japanese term where possible and using “deity” when a gloss is needed.
Kami may be named individuals, collective beings, or powers closely associated with places and communities. A mountain can be revered as a kami, understood as the dwelling place of a kami, or linked to a named deity through a shrine tradition.
Types of kami
The category includes mythological figures such as Amaterasu Omikami and Susanoo no Mikoto; kami associated with rain, wind, sea, mountains, agriculture, or disease; ancestral and clan kami; and people later enshrined for political, cultural, or local significance. Inari worship, for example, includes diverse traditions associated with agriculture, prosperity, and other concerns.
The expression yaoyorozu no kami, literally “eight million kami,” uses a conventional large number to indicate multiplicity rather than an exact census. Shinto has no single absolute deity who places all other kami in a universal hierarchy.
Kami and place
For the spaces, buildings, and visitor practices through which these relationships are maintained, see Shinto Shrine (Jinja) and Japanese Shrine Etiquette.
Many kami are inseparable from sacred landscapes and local histories. Rocks, waterfalls, ancient trees, islands, and mountains may become focal points of reverence. Before permanent shrine buildings became widespread, rites could be conducted at marked natural sites or temporary spaces prepared for the arrival of a kami.
A Shinto shrine maintains a place where a specific kami or group of kami is enshrined. Sacred objects associated with the kami are normally kept within the sanctuary and are not public images for ordinary viewing.
Enshrinement and shrine networks
A kami may be enshrined at more than one location. Through a process often described as dividing or transferring the sacred spirit, a kami worshipped at an established shrine can be invited to another shrine without diminishing the original presence. This principle helps explain networks devoted to Inari, Hachiman, Tenjin, and other widely revered kami.
Local identity remains important. Two shrines associated with the same named kami may have different histories, festivals, priestly lineages, and relationships with their communities.
Ritual relations
Relations with kami are prepared and renewed through distinct ritual concepts. Kegare describes forms of ritual pollution or disruption; harae names purification; and misogi is purification particularly associated with water. Formal rites may include norito prayers recited by priests, commonly described by the historical term kannushi. These categories overlap in practice but are not synonyms.
Relations with kami are maintained through purification, offerings, prayers, and matsuri. Food, sake, evergreen branches, music, and dance may be presented according to the occasion. Rituals express gratitude, request protection, report important life events, or renew a community’s obligations to its sacred center.
Kami are associated with both beneficent and disruptive powers. Historical rites could address epidemics, storms, crop failure, or the unsettled dead as well as prosperity and protection. Reverence is therefore not based only on a simple image of benevolent nature.
Kami and other supernatural beings
Kami should not be used as a general label for every supernatural figure in Japanese stories. Yōkai is another broad category, often applied to strange beings, apparitions, or unexplained phenomena, while yūrei commonly refers to ghosts of the dead. Boundaries can overlap in particular texts, places, and periods, so the category used by a shrine, historical source, or community is more reliable than a simple English equivalence.
The Encyclopedia of Shinto describes kami through their extraordinary, awe-inspiring character and ritual relationships. This wider range is one reason that “god,” “spirit,” and “deity” each work only as partial translations.
Kami and Buddhism
After Buddhism entered Japan, kami worship and Buddhist institutions developed in close interaction. Kami were interpreted as protectors of Buddhist teachings, as beings requiring Buddhist liberation, or as local manifestations related to buddhas and bodhisattvas. Shrines and temples often occupied shared religious landscapes. Meiji-period policies formally separated the two, reshaping institutions and terminology.
Contemporary usage
Kami remain central to shrine worship, local festivals, and public language about Japanese religion. The word also appears in literature, film, games, and animation, where creative representations may draw on mythology without reproducing ritual traditions exactly. Recognizing the range of the term helps distinguish religious and historical usage from fictional adaptation.
A context test for translating kami
Before translating kami, test the immediate context. If a sentence names a figure enshrined and worshipped at a particular shrine, “deity” may be useful. If it describes a sacred presence tied to a landscape, community, phenomenon, or ritual relation, retaining kami can be more accurate. In historical or comparative writing, use the Japanese term first and define it rather than forcing a one-word equivalent. The Japan Tourism Agency’s English style guidance takes this context-sensitive approach.
This prevents two opposite errors: treating every kami as equivalent to a creator God, or reducing every kami to a nature spirit. Use the official terminology of the shrine or institution being discussed, and distinguish religious usage from fictional adaptation. Then connect the term to Shinto and the Jinja where relationships with kami are maintained.
Related entries
Sources and further reading
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