What is “Kami”?

“Kami” is often taken to mean “gods” but the concept is more involved than that and no English word expresses its full meaning. So I will consider what Kami is, according to an early Japanese chronicle of myths, the viewpoint of Kanji characters and religion.

“Kami” are the spirits, phenomena or “holy powers”. “Kami” is often taken to mean “gods” but the concept is more involved than that and no English word expresses its full meaning. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, as well as beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the spirits of venerated dead people. (ex. 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.)

Wikipedia

八百万神, Ya-o-yorozu-no-Kami (countless kami)

Kami encompasses a variety of concepts and phenomena means that everything and anything can be Kami. This concept is expressed in the term “八百万神, Ya-o-yorozu-no-Kami” in “古事記, Kojiki (A Record of Ancient Matters)”, Japan’s oldest historical book, compiled in 712. The word “八百万, Ya-o-yorozu” means eight million and represents innumerable. In other words, we can see that the Japanese have long been aware of the concept of many Kami existing around them, and have had a sense that Kami and spirits reside in all things and things around them.

And interestingly enough, this concept has been carried over to the Japanese today, and not a few of them are positive about the concept that Kami or spirit dwell in all things.

Now, please see the picture bellow. This is a picture of a meeting of the Kami. From this picture, you can see that there were thought to be many Kami. It is said that the Japanese Kami gather once a year in 出雲, Izumo to discuss the next year’s events, and there is an interesting folklore related to this.

Interpretation by the viewpoint of word (Kanji)

I will consider what Kami is from the Kanji. (Kanji are characters from Chinese.) “Kami” witten in the old character form as shown in the figure on the right is said to have first appeared in an entry in a Chinese history book compiled around 660 BC.

It is made up of two parts, left and right. The character “示” on the left side represents the shape of an altar, while the character “申” on the right side represents the shape of lightning strike.

That is, the ancients believed that Kami was a precious force that could not be grasped by natural forces or human knowledge, as agnostic as a lightning.

Interpretation by the viewpoint of religion

I will consider the relationship between Kami and religion. A common Japanese concept that Kami or spirit dwell in all things. This concept is from Japan’s oldest religion, Shinto. (Whether Shinto is a religion or not is a matter of opinion and will not be discussed in depth here.)

The ancestors of the Japanese were agriculturalists, then their lives were greatly influenced by nature, including the weather. Sometimes they felt the blessings of nature brought by mild weather and abundant land, while at other times they felt the threats of nature, such as crop failure due to drought or destruction of their living environment by storms.

In such natural phenomena beyond human control, the ancient people discovered the existence of divine spirits, and by respectfully worshipping these spirits, they were able to mitigate the threats of nature and pray for the peace and tranquility of their agricultural life, giving rise to the concept of the divine. This is said to be the beginning of Shinto, and the concept of the divine spirit born at this time was transformed into the Shinto concept of Kami. They also realized the preciousness of life that continues uninterruptedly in nature and regarded the life force that gives birth to all things as the work of Kami.

Thus, Shinto worshipped a wide variety of Kami, including Kami of the sea, Kami of the mountains, Kami of the wind, and other natural objects and phenomena, Kami of food, clothing, shelter, and livelihood, and Kami of land development.
This is truly the birth of 八百万神, Ya-o-yorozu-no-Kami.