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(:káꜜmì)) are the spirits or phenomena that are worshipped in the religion of Shinto. They are elements in nature, animals, creationary forces in the universe, as well as spirits of the revered deceased. Many Kami are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans, and some ancestors became Kami upon their death if they were able to embody the values and virtues of Kami in life. Traditionally, great or charismatic leaders like the Emperor could be kami.〔Tamura (2000:25)〕 In Shinto, Kami are not separate from nature, but are of nature, possessing positive and negative, good and evil characteristics. They are manifestations of musubi (結び),〔Boyd, James W., and Ron G. Williams. 2005. "Japanese Shintō: An Interpretation Of A Priestly Perspective." ''Philosophy East & West'' 55.1, 33-63.〕 the interconnecting energy of the universe, and are considered exemplary of what humanity should strive towards. Kami are believed to be “hidden” from this world, and inhabit a complementary existence that mirrors our own, ''shinkai ''(world of the Kami ) (神界).〔Yamakage, Motohisa Paul De Leeuw, and Aidan Rankin. The Essence of Shinto: Japan's Spiritual Heart. pg. 22.〕 To be in harmony with the awe inspiring aspects of nature is to be conscious of ''kannagara no michi'' (way of the Kami ) (随神の道 or 惟神の道).〔 Though the word Kami is translated in multiple ways into English, no one English word expresses its full meaning. In this way, the ambiguity of the meaning of Kami is necessary, as it conveys the ambiguous nature of Kami themselves. ==Etymology== Kami is the Japanese word for a god, deity, divinity, or spirit.〔Denshi Jisho Japanese Translation Dictionary http://jisho.org/kanji/details/神〕 It has been used to describe "mind" (心霊), "God" (ゴッド), "supreme being" (至上者), "one of the Shinto deities", an effigy, a principle and anything that is worshipped.〔Weblio, Inc., 2013 http://ejje.weblio.jp/english-thesaurus/content/%E7%A5%9E〕 Although "deity" is the common interpretation of kami, some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term.〔Ono, 1962〕 The wide variety of usage of the word can be compared to the Sanskrit ''Deva'' and the Hebrew ''Elohim'', which also refer to God, gods, angels or spirits. Some etymological suggestions are: * Kami may, at its root, simply mean "spirit", or an aspect of spirituality. It is written with the kanji "", Sino-Japanese reading ''shin'' or ''jin''. In Chinese, the character means "deity".〔https://tw.dictionary.yahoo.com/dictionary?p=%E7%A5%9E〕 * An apparently cognate form, perhaps a loanword, occurs in the Ainu language as ''kamuy'' and refers to an animistic concept very similar to Japanese kami. * In his Kojiki-den, Motoori Norinaga gave a definition of kami: "...any being whatsoever which possesses some eminent quality out of the ordinary, and is awe-inspiring, is called Kami."〔Gall, Robert S. 1999. "Kami And Daimon: A Cross-Cultural Reflection On What Is Divine." ''Philosophy East & West'' 49.1, 63.〕 Because Japanese does not normally distinguish grammatical number in nouns, it is sometimes unclear whether Kami refers to a single or multiple entities. When a singular concept is needed, or is used as a suffix. The logograms for ''kami-sama'' are those used for ''shén yàng'' in Pŭtōnghuà;〔"shén", "yàng" in ''Collins Chinese Concise Dictionary'' (2006), New York: HarperCollins.〕 ''kami-sama'' can be used for a divinity, or for an outstanding human, such as Tezuka Osamu, "the god of manga."〔"Osamu Tezuka" in ''Anime News Network Encyclopedia'' http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopediapeople.php?id=883 .〕 The term generally used to refer to multiple Kami is Kamigami.〔Yamakage, Motohisa Paul De Leeuw, and Aidan Rankin. ''The Essence of Shinto: Japan's Spiritual Heart''. pgs. 210,211.〕 Gender is also not implied in the word Kami, and as such it can be used to reference either male or female. The word , the use of female Kami is a fairly new tradition. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「kami」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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