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kami 神 | ||||||
KEY WORD : art history / iconography | ||||||
A Shinto
deity. Although the word deity may imply a singular definite presence, kami have no fixed number, form or gender. All humans are considered to become kami after death, and historically when a particularly important
kami results from death, as in the case of Fujiwara no Kamatari 藤原鎌足
(614-69, see *Kamatari
鎌足) and Sugawara no Michizane 菅原道真 (845-903; see *tenjin
天神) the tale of the death and burial of the man are included in the history
of the kami. Kami may be or reside in places and features
of the landscape which they can desert if they are unhappy. They reside
in *shintai 神体 (the
body of the god) often within shrines and are moved in portable ritual objects
called himorogi 神籬 which are usually made of sakaki 榊, a sacred
plant in Shinto, but may also be of other plants as favoured by the kami
in question. Kami can be moved provided proper ritual procedures
are observed. Kami may be asked for advice and are given offerings
in the form of food, music, art, poetry, dance and so on. From the late
7c under Shinto/Buddhist syncretism, shinbutsu shuugou 神仏習合 a way
of thinking developed in which the kami came to be seen as the local
Japanese manifestations *suijaku
垂迹 of the universal Buddhist deities *honjibutsu
本地仏. |
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REFERENCES: | ||||||
*Shintou bijutsu 神道美術 | ||||||
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NOTES: | ||||||
(C)2001 Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. No reproduction or republication without written permission. 掲載のテキスト・写真・イラストなど、全てのコンテンツの無断複製・転載を禁じます。 |
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