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God

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(かみ)
God
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Anywhere in Gensokyo, Underworld, Makai

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One of the major gods of Shinto, Amaterasu Oomikami, appears in Silent Sinner in Blue Chapter 16.

The term god refers to concepts such as spirits, natural forces and superhuman beings. In Japan's native Shinto religion, "god" is usually considered equivalent to the term kami (). It should be noted, however, that kami include a broader spectrum of beings than those found in monotheistic religions (e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, etc) or even some polytheistic ones. Shinto is at its roots an animist religion, meaning that any being (alive or dead), object or even phenomenon can be considered a god. Also, it should be noted that the 'G' in "god" should not be capitalized when referring to Shinto gods or any other gods from polytheistic religions.

Like many polytheistic religions (e.g. those of ancient Greece and Rome), Shinto gods live among humans and have direct impact on their daily lives. While their personalities are mostly similar to humans, they possess two aspects known as Ara and Nigi (荒・和): when they are worshiped they will protect people and grant them blessings (ご利益 gorieki), but when angry they will create disasters and curses ( tatari). In some cases the Ara and Nigi aspects of a god are so different in appearance and behaviour that they are named or worshipped separately. A shrine (神社 jinja) is a place for gods to occupy in order to interact with humans, which can vary in size from a small box or shelf (found in many homes) to an entire building and grounds.

Types of Gods

Dragon

Main article: Dragon

Dragons ( ryuu) are reptilian creatures viewed as gods in some cultures, and monsters in others.

Yaoyorozu no Kami

Main article: Yaoyorozu no Kami

Yaoyorozu no Kami (八百万の神, Lit. "Eight Million Gods") is the term in Shinto that is used to refer to gods in general. It also refers to the idea of "believing in Shinto faith".

While conventionally translated as "Eight Million Gods", it uses the older Japanese meaning of "eight" ( hachi, ya) as "myriad"; i.e. the number of gods is actually uncountably large.

Arahitogami

Main article: Arahitogami

Arahitogami (現人神, "living god") are humans who become gods while still alive, thus being both at once.

Kahaku

Kahaku (河伯, "river chief") are river gods from Chinese folklore. They should not be confused with the youkai known as the kappa from Japanese folklore.

Yatagarasu

Main article: Yatagarasu

Yatagarasu (八咫烏, "eight-span crow") is a divine three-legged crow that serves the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu.

Divine Spirits

Main article: Divine spirit

Divine spirits (神霊 shinrei) are the spirits of humans who ascended to godhood before or after their death.

Gods in Touhou

The majority of gods in the Touhou Project are drawn from or based on the Shinto religion. However, the Buddhist god Bishamonten exists, and Okina Matara is directly based on the Buddhist God Matara-Jin. Possibly gods from other religions also exist; Seiga Kaku has made a dismissive reference to Jesus Christ,[1] though his divinity was not confirmed.

The Shinto Gods in Touhou

Shinto Gods in the Touhou Project are "born" from faith and derive their power from it. Note that being "born" can also refer to ascension to godhood, such as the case of Mizue no Uranoshimako, a human who became a god after his death. As they are born from human belief they share some similarities to youkai, and some youkai have argued that the two are practically the same. However, they have many differences, and for the most part can be considered two different "species".[2] Unlike youkai, gods are not generally born from fear; thus they do not do things like attacking humans by default, but instead seek out faith, typically in the form of worship.

Faith from either humans or youkai is valid, and is described by Kanako in Reimu's Mountain of Faith A ending as a reverence towards existence, a fear of retribution for one's actions, and the will to enrich one's life, spirit, and body, but it doesn't really have to be that serious. Worship and faith can be as simple as just celebrating with your god.[3]

Shinto gods may split their spirits and manifest where ever called on, enabling them to be in many places at once to serve their worshippers; this doesn't diminish the power of the god in any way, as each split part of the same god would have the same amount of power as the original.[4] Certain individuals, such as Watatsuki no Yorihime and shrine maidens like Reimu Hakurei and Sanae Kochiya can directly call upon the gods to enter their bodies. Most gods interact with the physical world entirely in this manner. Some gods have physical bodies which allow them to act independently without being called upon, such as Kanako and Suwako (and likely Hina Kagiyama, Minoriko Aki, and Shizuha Aki), but this does not prevent them from splitting their spirit or being invoked in the normal ways.

The Shinto gods are well-acknowledged in Gensokyo and by the denizens of the Lunar Capital (according to Kanako, many of whom have actually been the original gods from relevant mythology, such as Sagume Kishin, as well as Lord Tsukuyomi and his sister). However, in the outside world, faith has instead been placed on various things such as friendship and news.[5] Thus, like youkai, it is difficult for some gods such as Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya to survive in the outside world as their faith dies out. Presumably more well-known Shinto gods such as Amaterasu still have plenty of faith to go around in the outside world, as there is nothing to indicate their existence is under threat any time soon; in particular, the god Ame-no-Torifune even had a space station dedicated to him.

Of note is that loss of faith for a god means a loss of their ability to manifest their power. For a god, losing all their power is equivalent to death[6] (with the exception of arahitogami, who would continue to exist as normal humans).

The Buddhist Gods in Touhou

Much like how in real life Buddhist and Shinto gods were de facto seen as part of a single system due to the honji suijaku dogma, the Buddhist gods in Touhou don't seem to function differently from their Shinto peers.

Bishamonten, being extremely busy, uses Shou Toramaru as an avatar (gongen) for the temples that Shou works or worked in (Byakuren Hijiri's previous temple and her current Myouren Temple).

Okina Matara is based on Matara-jin (摩多羅神), a god historically venerated mostly by the Tendai Buddhism sect. However, like many other medieval Japanese gods, Matara-jin was neither purely Buddhist nor purely Shinto, and arose from of syncretic traditions combining elements from many religions[7].

Characters under this Bestiary

Touhou Project

Gods not original to Touhou

Seihou Project

See Also

References

  1. Ten Desires Youmu route
  2. Silent Sinner in Blue Chapter 17. "You can't fight gods and youkai the same way."
  3. Mountain of Faith Kanako's profile. "Actually, to play together was what gods wished for." "This was exactly the kind of faith Kanako was wishing for."; Reimu A ending. "There's no difference between faith and the ability to share a nice drink together like this.
  4. Silent Sinner in Blue, chapter 6
  5. Mountain of Faith Reimu B Ending. In the outside world, people's faith in gods was weakened by the appearance of bad cults and religions. However, all gods benefit from all faith in them. Even though faith and entreatment are different things. Humans, in their independence, lost the need for faith. Actually, that's not true. Even now, they have faith deep within their hearts. People believe in the news, brands, companies, and friends. The object of their faith has merely shifted closer. If you're a god who wishes to regain faith from humans... try setting your pride aside and being friendly with them.
  6. Mountain of Faith Sanae Kochiya's profile. "When people lose faith in gods, the gods lose their power. They can't manifest their divine virtues. This is the same as death, for a god.
  7. https://www.persee.fr/doc/asie_0766-1177_2006_num_16_1_1258
  8. https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Hidden_Star_in_Four_Seasons/Story/Cirno%27s_Extra#:~:text=It%27s%20possible%20that%20she%20wasn%27t%20a%20butterfly%20fairy%20at%20all%2C