Hierarchy of Kami

A life-size float figure of Amaterasu, crowned with a sundisk and carrying a mirror and a sun wand.

The other day I was asked why different shrines venerate different kami-sama, and why they aren’t ranked in the same hierarchy of importance.

Most Sect Shinto (Kyoha Shinto) have a single or group of kami that they venerate above all others, but in shrine Shinto (Jinja Shinto), the kami-sama are not ranked in any hierarchy of importance. Objectively, all kami-sama are equally important, but depending on your own position, you might personally revere some kami-sama more than others.

Let me give an analogy. On Mother’s Day, I sent a present to my mother, but not to my Auntie, nor to my sister. However, my cousin gave a present to my Auntie, and my nephew to my sister. And neither of them gave a present to my mother. Why? My mother, Auntie, and sister are all equally mothers, so why don’t we all give all of them presents? The reason, of course, is because while they are all mothers, only my mother is MY mother. I revere my mother more than my auntie and sister, not because they aren’t equal, but because of my specific connection to her.

It is the same with kami-sama. I might have particular reverence for my local kami-sama, but that doesn’t make it objectively more important than other kami-sama. Only more important to me and my community.

So, the reason shrines venerate different kami-sama is because local situations different. For example, many shrines near the ocean venerate Kotohira, because Kotohira is a fishing/ocean kami. But a mountain shrine wouldn’t venerate Kotohira, because it doesn’t have anything to do with the ocean. Likewise, there are many Shinto shrines dedicated to Kato Kiyomasa in Kyushu, because he was a great daimyo who historically lived there. But there are very few shrines to Kato in Honshu, because that place has no strong connection to him.

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Pacifying Kami

Sugawara no Michizane

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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Monotheistic Shinto?

Ame no Minaka Nushi no Kami

The other day when I went to a lecture about the Kojiki (old book of Japanese myths and namesake of my blog’s URL), I heard about an interesting theory that aligned Shinto with Christianity. Shinto does not have any strict doctrine or theology. That is one of Shinto’s characteristics. Thus this theory is just some people’s interpretations. It is not right or wrong or anything in-between.

According to this theory, Shinto is a monotheistic religion. Wait. What you say? Shinto is usually called a polytheistic religion because of the “80 thousand” (yaoyorozu) gods it has! Shinto does indeed have many different kami. Among the well known kami, there are the three siblings Tsukiyomi, Susanowo, and Amaterasu. There are the parent kami Izanami and Izanaki. There are the Izumo kami such as Onamuchi and Sukunabikona. These are all mythical kami from the Kojiki. I also have an encyclopedia of kami that includes only real people that has over 13 hundred entries. How could Shinto possibly be monotheistic?

Christianity is a monotheistic religion, right? Yet the Christian God is a trinity. The Christian conception of God has three persons in one God. In this way, Christianity draws a difference between persons and essence. Shinto is the same.

The first kami to appear in the Kojiki is Ame no Minaka Nushi no Kami. This kami is very mysterious and becomes out of nothing, different from most of the other kami who are physically born into this world. Thus we can take this name “Ame no Minaka Nushi no Kami” as the name of “God”. All the other 80 thousand kami are of the same essence as Ame no Minaka Nushi no Kami, but different persons from her.

To clarify, in Christianity, there is “God” and he is made up of three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three persons are all a single “God” and share the same divine essence equally. In Shinto (according to this theory), there is “God” and it is made up of Ame no Minaka Nushi no Kami and all the other 80 thousand kami. All these kami are a single “God” and share the same divine essence equally.

Continuing along this line of thought produces some interesting ideas to consider. We humans are children of the kami, literal blood descendants. In this way, we also share in the divine essence of kami. In the same way, all of nature–trees, water, animals, rocks–is also kami and shares in that divine essence. This I think is an important difference from Christianity. In Christianity, humans have a human essence they share with other humans. We lost our part of the divine essence by the Original Sin was committed in the Garden of Eden. It is only through Jesus Christ, who possesses both a divine and human essence, can we humans can experience the divine.

One explanation that could resolve this is to say that only Westerners fell away from the divine path through Original Sin, and thus the need for Jesus Christ to open a Way for them to return to the divine essence. The Japanese on the other hand, never fell away from the divine essence, but maintained it through its pure, native traditions of Shinto. Of course, this explanation sounds a bit… jingoistic? Also, I am a Westerner.

Another explanation might be to compare kami to saints. Kami are not omniscient nor omnipotent. Most kami were real living human beings who walked upon this earth. They are inside the natural order and they follow the Principle of the universe. Of course, they are a much more complete divine than we everyday humans–they shed divine Grace upon us–and that is one reason why we are inclined to give reverence to them. This comparison to Saints seems more accurate to the nature of kami. Furthermore, a Universal Principle or simply Truth (shinri) is often mentioned in Shinto-related discussion to refer to the natural order of everything: kami, human, and nature alike. This Principle or Truth which is outside and above all nature seems more similar the Christian conception of God.

Anyway, all of this is just idle talk.

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Shinto and Idolatry

A Shrine Mirror

I like theology. As most theologians will acknowledge, theology has its limits. I mean, there isn’t much merit to defending to the death the exact number of angels that can fit on the head of pin. But theology is interesting and a good exercise in reconciling our “heads and hearts” so to speak. Shrine Shinto doesn’t really engage in theology, partly because it is not so much a religion. But even the parts of Shinto that do have specific doctrines are characterized by an inclusive syncrestic viewpoint. Thus doctrinal disputes are on the whole of a rather mild nature. Christianity, on the other hand, is defined by theology. The mere addition of a single word (filioque) caused a huge fission in medieval Christianity and people killed and died for what outsider might think seem rather trivial doctrinal differences. One of those doctrinal debates was about “iconoclasm”.

Iconoclasm is the idea that Christians musn’t use icons, that is, religious images. There were a lot of debates about this in the early history of Christianity, but in the end, the use of icons (and in their 3D form, statues) was upheld as correct. This debate surfaced again in a milder form during the protestant reformation, with the protestants rejecting religious images as unbiblical. Thus it is easy to distinguish the three major trinitarian Christian sects merely by looking inside one of their churches: Orthodox will have 2D icons, Catholics will have 3D icons, and protestants won’t have any.

One of the arguments against icons was that icons were “idols”, that by venerating icons (ie: bowing down and praying before them, kissing them), Christians were guilty of idolatry. What is idolatry? Basically, idolatry is giving worship to idols (that is material objects) that rightly belongs only to God. The justification the church gave for the use of icons was that icons were not “idols”. Although they material objects, icons do not direct worship away from God. In fact it is the opposite. We worship god through the icons, so the icons infact focus our worship for strongly on God. Protestants might not be convinced by my short explanation here, but I recommend listening to the biblical defense given by Fr. Evan (an orthodox priest).

Now to connect this to Shinto. In colonial Korea, one of the most vocal protests against Shinto was by Christian protestants. In particular, they really objected to having to bow down in front of shrines because they felt that would be committing idolatry. But even today, bowing before a kamidana or shrine is a custom that is often expected of practitioners of traditional Japanese arts (Kyudo is a prime example). So, are Shinto practices a form of idolatry?

I would say no. That Shinto practices are open to being interpreted by their participants in different ways and that there is no single “correct” interpretation has been amply demonstrated by the research of scholars like Nelson. Thus each practitioner is welcome to interpret the praxis how they like, or to even not consider the meaning at all. Inside a kamidana is an ofuda a paper tablet on which the name of a shrine is written. Inside an actual shrine is a goshintai, a item which takes various forms but is often a mirror or tablet etc. But neither the ofuda or goshintai are consider the kami itself. They represent the kami. Thus bowing before a shrine or kamidana is not directing worship at a material object. Thus Shinto practices are clearly not a form of idolatry.

Of course, this argument doesn’t say anything about whether Shinto is a form of demon-worship. Obviously, I don’t think it is. But I will leave that discussion for another day.

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