Home›Japanese Deities›PantheonBrowse ByPantheonThis page groups deities by the named pantheon or deity type they belong to, the specific cultural system of gods such as the Greek, Norse or Egyptian pantheon. Wikipedia defines a pantheon as "the particular set of all gods of any individual polytheistic religion, mythology, or tradition." Browsing this way lets a visitor stay inside one mythological system, or compare the same role, such as a sky god, across several pantheons at once.FactsLearn MorePantheonSourcesComments (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.PantheonFilter Results2 entriesDivine HeadshipAllNo sovereign; the gods act as peers (2)Era of Attestation End YearAll2026 (2)Era of Attestation Start YearAll500 BCE (1)712 (1)How Mortals Enter the PantheonAllAncestors and founders become objects of cult (1)Any person may reach the state the tradition venerates, by practice rather than by grant (1)Membership of the PantheonAllForeign gods are adopted and identified with gods already held (1)Traditionally held to be beyond counting (1)Structure of the PantheonAllA descent group, the gods traced as kin from a first generation (1)Local and lineage cults gathered under one name, with no single frame (1)Many deities understood as forms of one supreme reality (1)Succession Between Divine GenerationsAllPower dissolves and is renewed on a cosmic cycle rather than inherited (1)The senior god withdrew and left the world to junior powers (1)The Creator and the Ruling GodsAllThe creator withdrew after making the world and is seldom addressed in cult (1)The world was formed from pre-existing matter or from a slain being, with no creator god (1)Veneration TodayAllActively venerated in a living tradition (2)Show ResultsBrowseCompareBuddhistPantheon1 entryJapanesePantheon25 entriesSources1. 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.