Recently, I was asked about how a historically wrathful kami can now be considered benevolent. There are actually many cases of this happening. In particular, these sorts of kami are called goryou 御霊.
The most famous example is that of Sugawara no Michizane, who is also known as Tenjin-sama. Tenjin-sama was a noble who lived during the Heian period. He was falsely accused of treachery and exiled to a distant land. Shortly after his death, many disasters began to occur in Kyoto and it was determined that it was caused by his vengeful spirit.
The Emperor apologized to Tenjin-sama’s spirit by pardoning him, raising his court rank, and building Shinto shrines for him: first as his grave (Dazaifu Tenmangu 太宰府天満宮) and then in Kyoto (Kitano Tenmangu 北野天満宮). Through this, Tenjin-sama’s spirit was pacified. Tenjin-sama was known as a very brilliant scholar and poet, so once pacified, he started helping students and poets excel at their arts. Thus even today many students will go to pray at his shrine for academic success.
There is another separate, but similar sounding idea also found in Shinto. There is the idea that kami-sama have two sides of their spirit: the aramitama 荒魂 (“rough spirit”) and the nigimitama 和魂 (“calm spirit”). However, this isn’t a divide between “evil” and “good” sides, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Rather, it is more like the difference between “Dionysian” and “Apollonian” spirits, and both are integral to a whole person. Sometimes, a shrine will revere only the aramitama of a kami-sama, while a different shrine will enshrine only the nigimitama of the same kami-sama.
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