Kami (神) are the gods, spirits and sacred presences at the heart of Shinto, the native religion of Japan. But the word covers far more than "god" in the Western sense. A kami can be a great god of myth or the spirit of a mountain or a river. It can be the awe you feel before an ancient tree or a waterfall. It can be an ancestor or an emperor whom people now worship. It can be anything that fills people with wonder and respect. To understand kami is to understand how Japan has long felt about the sacred.
Everything can be sacred
Shinto draws no neat line between the divine and the natural world. Kami live in things. They live in striking places in the landscape and in forces like wind, growth and the harvest. They live in remarkable people and in objects set apart as holy. They are not all-powerful or all-good like the single God of other faiths. They are many, local and varied. They live inside the world, not above it. The classic phrase is yaoyorozu no kami (八百万の神), "the eight million gods." Nobody ever counted them. The phrase simply means the kami are beyond number and everywhere.
How kami are honoured
People worship a kami at a shrine, but the kami usually stays out of sight. A sacred object often stands for it. This is the shintai or go-shintai (御神体), a mirror, a sword, a stone or another vessel where the kami's presence lives. The object stays hidden in the inner sanctuary. Out in nature, sacred trees and rocks and ropes with white paper streamers (shide) show where a kami is present. People honour kami in simple ways. They keep themselves pure, give thanks and offerings, hold festivals and follow the small gestures of a shrine visit. The point is not to obey a commanding god. The point is to feel grateful and live in harmony with the sacred presences of the world.
Words & idioms to take away
Idioms & proverbs to carry away
-
八百万の神 (yaoyorozu no kami): "eight million kami," the set phrase for the countless gods of Shinto, present all through nature and life.
-
御神体 (go-shintai): the sacred object, such as a mirror, a sword or a stone, that holds a kami's spirit. It is the physical focus of worship, and the shrine keeps it hidden.