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Tag: kami

“Kami” (神) is the Japanese word for the divinity; the supreme being. It is also for the spirits, natural forces, and essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as “god” or “deity”, some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term. The wide variety of usage of the word can be compared to the Sanskrit Deva and the Hebrew Elohim, which also refer to God, gods, angels or spirits. In some instances, such as Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto, kami are personified deities, similar to the gods of ancient Greece or Rome. In other cases, such as those concerning the phenomenon of natural emanation, kami are the spirits dwelling in trees, or forces of nature. 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 is used to refer to various nature spirits of traditional Chinese religion, but not to the…