WORLD RELIGIONS

Detailed explanation-1: -Kami (Japanese: , [kami]) are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or “holy powers” that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the spirits of venerated dead people.

Detailed explanation-2: -In the most general sense, it refers to all divine beings of heaven and earth that appear in the classics. More particularly, the kami are the spirits that abide in and are worshipped at the shrines. In principle human beings, birds, animals, trees, plants, mountains, oceans-all may be kami.

Detailed explanation-3: -Celestial bodies, for example, the sun, the moon, and the stars, were often worshiped as the kami itself. Natural phenomena such as thunder or wind were mostly considered as the workings of kami.

Detailed explanation-4: -The followers of Shintoism believe that spiritual powers exist in the natural world. They believe that spirits called “kami” live in natural places such as in animals, plants, stones, mountains, rivers, people and even the dead.