Figures

who it looks to — gods, spirits, ancestors; some rooms are empty on principle Part of Belief →

The ultimate — what this line takes as final

I Izanagi and Izanami. They stir the ocean with a jewelled spear and the drops that fall from it become the islands. She dies giving birth to fire; he goes down after her, is told not to look, looks, and runs. Their separation at the pass is the story's account of why there is death. Domain The making of the islands, and the origin of deathStanding Enshrined at Taga Taisha and elsewhere; the divorce at the pass between the worlds is where death enters the account Meet them — context →

Gods & powers — the presences it names and addresses

A Amaterasu — the sun. The great kami of the sun, enshrined at Ise, ancestress of the imperial line — the closest Shinto comes to a center. Domain The sun; ancestress of the imperial lineStanding Enshrined at Ise, whose buildings are rebuilt every twenty years Meet them — context →

S Susanoo — the storm. He wrecks his sister's fields and flays a horse into her weaving hall, which drives her into the cave, and he is exiled for it. Then he kills the eight-headed serpent, marries the girl it was going to eat, and becomes a protector against plague. The tradition does not tidy him up. Domain Storm, sea, and after his exile, protection from plagueStanding Enshrined at Yasaka in Kyoto, whose Gion Matsuri began as a plague rite; the disruptive kami who becomes the guardian Meet them — context →

I Inari. Kami of rice, prosperity, and foxes — served by more shrines than any other, the red torii tunnels climbing the hills. Meet them — context →

Ō Ōkuninushi — the land master. He built the visible country and then handed it to the sun's line, keeping the unseen world and a great shrine at Izumo. Every October the kami of Japan are said to leave their shrines and go there to arrange the coming year's marriages, which is why October is the godless month everywhere except Izumo. Domain The land itself, medicine, and matchmakingStanding Izumo Taisha is his; in October the kami are said to gather there, which is why that month is the godless month everywhere else and the month with gods in Izumo Meet them — context →

H Hachiman. Identified with a legendary emperor, adopted by the Minamoto warriors, and for most of Japanese history worshipped simultaneously as a kami and as a bodhisattva. There are more Hachiman shrines than any other kind except Inari, and his messenger is a dove. Domain Archery, war, and the protection of warriors and their descendantsStanding Tens of thousands of Hachiman shrines, more than any other after Inari; for a thousand years he was also worshipped as a bodhisattva Meet them — context →

T Tenjin — the exiled scholar. Sugawara no Michizane was a real minister, outmanoeuvred by the Fujiwara and sent to Kyushu, where he died in 903. Then the capital burned, flooded and was struck by lightning that killed his enemies in the palace. The court gave him rank, a shrine and eventually the patronage of every student sitting an exam. Domain Scholarship, calligraphy, and passing examinationsStanding Kitano Tenmangū and Dazaifu Tenmangū receive millions of students before exams; the clearest case of a wronged human becoming a national kami Meet them — context →

A Ame-no-Uzume — the dancer. When the sun hid, the gods tried force and failed. Uzume overturned a tub, danced on it until her robe came loose, and the assembled gods laughed so loudly that Amaterasu opened the door to see what she was missing. The world is recovered by comedy, and Japanese performance dates itself from that dance. Domain Dance, laughter, and the arts of performanceStanding Claimed as the origin of kagura and by extension of Japanese theatre; the sun is recovered by comedy rather than by force Meet them — context →

T The Seven Lucky Gods. Ebisu is Japanese; Daikokuten and Bishamonten and Benzaiten came from India through Buddhism; Fukurokuju and Jurōjin are Daoist; Hotei was a Chinese monk. They travel together in a treasure ship, and the fact that six of the seven are foreign has never bothered anyone. Domain Luck, in seven specialised varietiesStanding The clearest evidence that the tradition absorbs rather than excludes; a seven-shrine pilgrimage circuit exists in most cities Meet them — context →

Ancestors & spirits — the dead, the local, the household

T The kami of place. The mountain's kami, the waterfall's, the old tree's at the village edge — the sacred as a local resident, greeted with a bow. Domain The mountain's, the waterfall's, the old tree's at the village edgeStanding Greeted with a bow; thanked with rice and sake Meet them — context →

T The ancestors. The household dead, tended at the family altar — kami in the making, still members of the family. Meet them — context →

T The stone at the crossroads. Dōsojin sit at village boundaries and forks in the road, often carved as a couple holding hands, guarding travellers and asked about childbirth and marriage. No institution owns them and no priest attends them, and people still leave sake at their feet. held by most Domain Crossroads, village boundaries, travellers, childbirth and couplesStanding Nobody administers them and nobody has to; villagers still leave sake and rice, and in Nagano they are burned in the New Year dondo-yaki fire Meet them — context →

Adversaries — named in order to be refused

T The vengeful dead. Someone who dies wronged does not settle. Michizane took the capital apart with lightning; Taira no Masakado's head is said to have flown home. His grave mound still occupies a plot in Tokyo's financial district, kept and cleaned, because the recorded attempts to build over it were followed by deaths and the developers stopped. ⚖ contested within Domain Epidemic, drought, fire, lightning, political misfortuneStanding Masakado's burial mound still sits in the Ōtemachi financial district in Tokyo, kept and maintained, because attempts to move it went badly and nobody wants to try again Meet them — context →