Kami

are the deities, divinities, spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. Kami can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, beings and the qualities that these beings express, and/or the spirits of venerated dead people. Many kami are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans. Traditionally, great leaders like the Emperor could be or became kami.
In Shinto, kami are not separate from nature, but are of nature, possessing positive and negative, and good and evil characteristics. They are manifestations of wiktionary:結び, the interconnecting energy of the universe, and are considered exemplary of what humanity should strive towards. Kami are believed to be "hidden" from this world, and inhabit a complementary existence that mirrors our own: 3=shinkai. To be in harmony with the awe-inspiring aspects of nature is to be conscious of 3=kannagara no michi.

Meaning

Kami is the Japanese word for a deity, divinity, or spirit. It has been used to describe mind, God, Supreme Being, one of the Shinto deities, an effigy, a principle, and anything that is worshipped.
Although deity is the common interpretation of kami, some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term.
Some etymological suggestions are:

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 means deity or spirit.
In the Ainu language, the word kamuy refers to an animistic concept very similar to Japanese kami. The matter of the words' origins is still a subject of debate; John Batchelor derives the word from Ainu roots, but Japanese sources indicate a Japonic origin.

In terms of meaning, in his Kojiki-den, Motoori Norinaga gave a definition of kami as: "any being whatsoever which possesses some eminent quality out of the ordinary, and is awe-inspiring, is called kami."
Because Japanese does not normally distinguish grammatical number in nouns, it is sometimes unclear whether kami refers to a single or multiple entities. When a singular concept is needed, -kami is used as a suffix. The reduplicated term generally used to refer to multiple kami is kamigami.

History

While Shinto has no founder, no overarching doctrine, and no religious texts, the Kojiki, written in 712 CE, and the Nihon Shoki, written in 720 CE, contain the earliest record of Japanese creation myths. The Kojiki also includes descriptions of various kami.
In the ancient traditions there were five defining characteristics of kami:

Kami are of two minds. They can nurture and love when respected, or they can cause destruction and disharmony when disregarded. Kami must be appeased in order to gain their favor and avoid their wrath. Traditionally, kami possess two souls, one gentle and the other assertive ; additionally, in Yamakage Shinto, kami have two additional souls that are hidden: one happy and one mysterious.
Kami are not visible to the human realm. Instead, they inhabit sacred places, natural phenomena, or people during rituals that ask for their blessing.
They are mobile, visiting their places of worship, of which there can be several, but never staying forever.
There are many different varieties of kami. There are 300 different classifications of kami listed in the Kojiki, and they all have different functions, such as the kami of wind, kami of entryways, and kami of roads.
Lastly, all kami have a different guardianship or duty to the people around them. Just as the people have an obligation to keep the kami happy, the kami have to perform the specific function of the object, place, or idea they inhabit.

Kami are an ever-changing concept, but their presence in Japanese life has remained constant. The kami's earliest roles were as earth-based spirits, assisting the early hunter-gatherer groups in their daily lives. They were worshipped as gods of the earth and sea. As the cultivation of rice became increasingly important and predominant in Japan, the kami's identity shifted to more sustaining roles that were directly involved in the growth of crops; roles such as rain, earth, and rice. This relationship between early Japanese people and the kami was manifested in rituals and ceremonies meant to entreat the kami to grow and protect the harvest. These rituals also became a symbol of power and strength for the early Emperors.
There is a strong tradition of myth-histories in the Shinto faith; one such myth details the appearance of the first emperor, grandson of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. In this myth, when Amaterasu sent her grandson to earth to rule, she gave him five rice grains, which had been grown in the fields of heaven. This rice made it possible for him to transform the "wilderness".
Social and political strife have played a key role in the development of new sorts of kami, specifically the goryō-shin. Goryō are the vengeful spirits of the dead whose lives were cut short, but they were calmed by the devotion of Shinto followers and are now believed to punish those who do not honor the kami.
The pantheon of kami, like the kami themselves, is forever changing in definition and scope. As the needs of the people have shifted, so too have the domains and roles of the various kami. Some examples of this are related to health, such as the kami of smallpox whose role was expanded to include all contagious diseases, or the kami of boils and growths who has also come to preside over cancers and cancer treatments.
In ancient animistic Japanese belief, kami were understood as simply the divine forces of nature. Worshippers in ancient Japan revered kami of nature which exhibited a particular beauty and power such as ghosts, the ocean, the sun, waterfalls, mountains, boulders, animals, trees, grasses, rice paddies, thunder, echoes, foxes and fox spirits, and Asian dragons. They strongly believed the spirits or resident kami deserved respect.
In 927 CE, the was promulgated in fifty volumes. This, the first formal codification of Shinto rites and norito to survive, became the basis for all subsequent Shinto liturgical practice and efforts. It listed all of the 2,861 Shinto shrines existing at the time, and the 3,131 official-recognized and enshrined kami. The number of kami has grown and far exceeded this figure through the following generations as there are over 2,446,000 individual kami enshrined in Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine alone.

Shinto belief

Kami are the central objects of worship in Shinto. The best English translation of kami is 'spirits', but this is an over-simplification of a complex concept—kami can be elements of the landscape or forces of nature. Kami are believed to have influence over the forces of nature and over the affairs of humans. The ancient animistic spirituality of Japan was the beginning of modern Shinto, which became a formal spiritual institution later, in an effort to preserve the traditional beliefs from the encroachment of imported religious ideas. As a result, the nature of what can be called kami is very general 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 all people, which, when they died, were believed to be the guardians of their descendants.
There are other spirits designated as kami as well. For example, the guardian spirits of the land, occupations, and skills; spirits of Japanese heroes; those of outstanding deeds or virtues; those who have contributed to civilization, culture, and human welfare; those who have died for the state or the community; and the pitiable deceased. Not only spirits superior to humans can be considered kami: spirits that are considered pitiable or weak have also been considered kami in Shinto.
The concept of kami has been changed and refined since ancient times, although anything considered to be kami by ancient people will still be considered kami in modern Shinto. Even within modern Shinto, no clearly defined criteria exist 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 concept, rather than a difference in definitions.
Although the ancient designations are still adhered to, in modern Shinto, many priests also consider kami to be anthropomorphic spirits with nobility and authority. One such example is the mythological figure Amaterasu-ōmikami, the sun goddess of the Shinto pantheon. Although kami can be considered deities, they are not necessarily considered omnipotent or omniscient; like the ancient Greek gods, kami have flawed personalities and are incapable of ignoble acts. In the myths of Amaterasu, for example, she could see the events of the human world, but had to use divination rituals to see the future.
There are considered to be three main variations of kami:,, and. "" literally means eight million, but idiomatically it expresses "uncountably many" and "all-around"—like many East Asian cultures, the Japanese often use the number 8, representing the cardinal and ordinal directions, to symbolize ubiquity. These classifications of kami are not considered strictly divided, due to the fluid and shifting nature of kami, but are instead held as guidelines for grouping them.
The ancestors of one's family can also be worshipped as kami. In this sense, these kami are worshipped not because of their godly powers, but because of a distinctive quality or virtue. An example of this is Tenjin, who was Sugawara no Michizane in life. These kami are celebrated regionally, and miniature shrines have been built in their honor.
Within Shinto, it is believed that the nature of life is sacred because the kami began human life. Yet humans cannot perceive the sacredness the kami created without assistance. Therefore,, or purification, is necessary to see the divine nature. This purification can only be granted by the kami. To please the kami and earn magokoro, Shinto followers are taught to uphold the four affirmations of Shinto.
The first affirmation is to hold fast to tradition and one's family line. Family is seen as the main mechanism by which traditions are preserved. For instance, a given tradition may be observed and passed on to future generations at marriage or birth. The second affirmation is to have a love of nature. Nature objects are worshipped as sacred because the kami inhabit them. Therefore, to be in contact with nature means to be in contact with the gods. The third affirmation is to maintain physical cleanliness. Followers of Shinto take baths, wash their hands, and rinse out their mouths often. The last affirmation is to practice matsuri, which is the worship and honor given to the kami and ancestral spirits.
Shinto followers also believe that the kami are the ones who can either grant blessings or curses to a person. Shinto believers desire to appease the evil kami to "stay on their good side" and please the good kami. In addition to practicing the four affirmations daily, Shinto believers also wear omamori to aid them in remaining pure and protected. Mamori are charms that keep the evil kami from striking a human with sickness or causing disaster to befall them.
The kami are both worshipped and respected within the religion of Shinto. The goal of life to Shinto believers is to obtain magokoro, a pure sincere heart, which can only be granted by the kami. As a result, Shinto followers are taught that humankind should venerate both the living and the nonliving, because both possess a divine superior spirit within: the kami.