Home›Japanese Deities›All Japanese DeitiesBrowse ByAll Japanese DeitiesThe kami of Shinto and the deities of Japanese Buddhism and folk religion, known from the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, from shrine tradition, and from continuing local practice. Kami are not confined to gods in the Western sense: ancestors, natural features and forces are addressed in the same terms.FactsLearn MoreAll Japanese DeitiesSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedThe kami of Shinto together with the buddhas and bodhisattvas long worshipped alongside them. Kami are not a fixed pantheon: the word covers sacred powers in nature, places, ancestors and exceptional people, held to be innumerable, and the named great kami of the eighth-century chronicles are a small and deliberately organised part of what is venerated at shrines. 2AttestationEra of AttestationWell-attestedThe named kami first appear as an ordered corpus in the Kojiki of 712 and the Nihon Shoki of 720, compiled to serve the claims of the imperial court. Shrine worship continues today. 2Veneration TodayWell-attestedVenerated today at shrines throughout Japan and in the Japanese diaspora. 2DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedDeities 1OriginsOrigin of the NameWell-attestedKami is the tradition's own word and is not a translation of god. It names a quality of awe-commanding power that may belong to a deity, a place, a natural force, an ancestor or a living person, and it takes no plural. 2Learn MoreThe kami of Japan This group holds the deities of Shinto, the indigenous tradition of Japan, together with figures shared with Japanese Buddhism. The Shinto divine is the kami (sacred powers present in nature, ancestors, places and exceptional beings), understood as innumerable rather than as a fixed pantheon. The browser will find the great kami of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki: the sun-goddess Amaterasu, from whom the imperial line is traced; her brother the storm-god Susanoo; the moon-god Tsukuyomi; the creator pair Izanagi and Izanami; and popular figures such as Inari and the Seven Lucky Gods. The entries note the long entanglement of Shinto and Buddhist worship in Japanese history.All Japanese DeitiesFilter Results29 entriesPlanetary FaceAllChiron (1)Jupiter (1)Mars (1)Mercury (1)Moon (1)Neptune (1)Pluto (1)Saturn (1)Sun (1)Venus (1)Child OfAllIzanagi (2)Ninigi (1)Watatsumi (1)Interpretatio OfAllJupiter (1)Mercury (1)Saturn (1)HistoricityAllHistorically attested (2)Legendary: known from narrative tradition, not the historical record (2)Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being (25)TheologyAllAnimist: persons and powers in land, water and living things (10)Polytheistic: many gods (19)ArchetypeAllThe Caregiver (2)The Hero (1)The Innocent (1)The Lover (1)The Magician (2)The Orphan (1)The Ruler (1)The Sage (1)Veneration StatusAllActively venerated in a living tradition (26)Historically attested; no continuous cult (3)Era Attested Start YearAll701 (1)711 (1)712 (14)720 (1)947 (1)Worshipped InAllBuddhism (2)Shinto (24)Domain / FunctionAllAgriculture and harvest (5)Chaos and adversary (1)Childbirth (2)Commerce and wealth (2)Craft, metalwork and smithing (1)Creation and cosmogony (3)Dance and theatre (1)Death (1)Earth (1)Fire (1)Healing and medicine (1)Kingship and sovereignty (2)Moon (1)Mountains (3)Music and poetry (1)Night and darkness (1)Primordial being (2)Protection and guardianship (6)Purification (1)Rivers, lakes and springs (1)Sea and ocean (3)Spring and renewal (1)Storm and thunder (1)Sun (1)The hunt (1)The underworld (1)Travel, roads and boundaries (1)Tutelary of a place or community (1)War and battle (1)Wisdom and counsel (3)Writing, scribes and learning (1)GenderAllAndrogynous / dual-gendered (1)Beyond gender (2)Female (9)Gender-fluid across the tradition (1)Male (16)PantheonAllBuddhist (1)Japanese (25)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 29AmaterasuJapanese DeitiesAme-no-MinakanushiJapanese DeitiesAme-no-UzumeJapanese DeitiesBenzaitenJapanese DeitiesHachimanJapanese DeitiesHooriJapanese DeitiesInariJapanese DeitiesIzanagiJapanese DeitiesIzanamiJapanese DeitiesKagu-tsuchiJapanese DeitiesKonohanasakuya-himeJapanese DeitiesKunadoJapanese DeitiesKuninotokotachiJapanese DeitiesNinigiJapanese DeitiesOmoikaneJapanese DeitiesOyamakui no KamiJapanese DeitiesSarutahikoJapanese DeitiesSukunabikonaJapanese DeitiesSusanooJapanese DeitiesTaira no MasakadoJapanese DeitiesTenjinJapanese DeitiesToyotama-himeJapanese DeitiesToyouke OmikamiJapanese DeitiesTsukuyomiJapanese DeitiesUgajinJapanese DeitiesUke MochiJapanese DeitiesWatatsumiJapanese DeitiesYachimata-hikoJapanese DeitiesYachimata-himeJapanese DeitiesSources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Shinto: A Historytier 1Helen Hardacre, Oxford University Press, 2017ch. 1View the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.