Home›Japanese Deities›Veneration Status›Actively venerated in a living traditionBrowse ByActively venerated in a living traditionThis page groups deities by how actively they are still venerated today, from gods with a living cult to ones whose worship has died out entirely. Wikipedia defines veneration as "the practice of honoring people and articles of religious significance, for example, the veneration of saints and the veneration of relics." Browsing this way lets a visitor tell a deity that still receives offerings apart from one preserved only in historical study.FactsLearn MoreActively venerated in a living traditionSourcesComments (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.Actively venerated in a living traditionFilter Results26 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 (22)TheologyAllAnimist: persons and powers in land, water and living things (10)Polytheistic: many gods (16)ArchetypeAllThe Caregiver (2)The Hero (1)The Innocent (1)The Lover (1)The Magician (2)The Orphan (1)The Ruler (1)The Sage (1)Era Attested Start YearAll701 (1)711 (1)712 (14)720 (1)947 (1)Worshipped InAllBuddhism (2)Shinto (21)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 (3)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 (8)Gender-fluid across the tradition (1)Male (14)PantheonAllBuddhist (1)Japanese (22)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 26AmaterasuActively venerated in a living traditionAme-no-MinakanushiActively venerated in a living traditionAme-no-UzumeActively venerated in a living traditionBenzaitenActively venerated in a living traditionHachimanActively venerated in a living traditionHooriActively venerated in a living traditionInariActively venerated in a living traditionIzanagiActively venerated in a living traditionIzanamiActively venerated in a living traditionKagu-tsuchiActively venerated in a living traditionKonohanasakuya-himeActively venerated in a living traditionKuninotokotachiActively venerated in a living traditionNinigiActively venerated in a living traditionOmoikaneActively venerated in a living traditionOyamakui no KamiActively venerated in a living traditionSarutahikoActively venerated in a living traditionSukunabikonaActively venerated in a living traditionSusanooActively venerated in a living traditionTaira no MasakadoActively venerated in a living traditionTenjinActively venerated in a living traditionToyotama-himeActively venerated in a living traditionToyouke OmikamiActively venerated in a living traditionTsukuyomiActively venerated in a living traditionUgajinActively venerated in a living traditionUke MochiActively venerated in a living traditionWatatsumiActively venerated in a living traditionSources1. 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.