Dosojin
Dosojin : Road Blocking Spirits Dosojin are roadside deities and spirits of the crossroads. There is not one spirit named Dosojin; instead this is a…
Category: Kami
Bosatsu
Bosatsu : Enlightened One; Enlightened Being Theoretically Bosatsu is merely the Japanese variant of the Sanskrit Bodhisattva. Prominent Bosatsu include Amida, Jizo, and Kannon. From…
Jingu, Empress
Jingu is a legendary Japanese empress now venerated as a kami. There are varying versions of her life; little documentation exists regarding this era in…
Jizo
Jizo : Earth Treasure;Womb of the Earth The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha arrived in Japan with Buddhism in the eighth century but became exceedingly popular in the…
Yokai
Yokai : Bewitching Apparitions Yokai are spirits of Japan, a vast category incorporating thousands of different spirits of all kinds, some anonymous but many with…
Chimata
Chimata is lord of the crossroads, highways, byways, and footpaths. He is an ancient phallic spirit. Phallic images representing him or meant to propitiate him…
Kajishin
Kajishin ORIGIN: Japan CLASSIFICATION: Kami Kajishin is the kami of ironworking and smithcraft. In Japan, as elsewhere, ironworkers doubled as shamans (or at least were…
Awashima
Awashima ORIGIN: Japan CLASSIFICATION: Kami Festival: 3 March Harisaijo, Amaterasu’s daughter, was married to Sumiyoshi, kami of the sea, fishermen, and poetry. She developed what…
Amatsumara
Amatsumara ORIGIN: Japan CLASSIFICATION: Kami Uzume didn’t lure Amaterasu out of her cave alone; she had help. The mirror used to entrance Amaterasu didn’t appear…
Amaterasu
AMATERASU : THE ONE WHO MAKES THE HEAVENS SHINE; HEAVEN-ILLUMINATING GREAT DEITY Amaterasu is the beautiful, radiant kami of the sun, but she is more…