Kami

== Meaning ==
[[File:Amaterasu cave crop.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Amaterasu]], one of the central ''kami'' in the Shinto faith]]
''Kami'' is the [[Japanese language|Japanese]] word for a deity, divinity, or spirit.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jisho.org/kanji/details/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703032246/http://jisho.org/kanji/details/ |archive-date=2013-07-03 |title=Kanji details – Denshi Jisho |date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2017-05-02}}</ref> It has been used to describe [[mind]], God, Supreme Being, one of the Shinto deities, an [[effigy]], a [[principle]], and anything that is worshipped.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=[[Weblio]] |title=神 |encyclopedia=Weblio英和辞典・和英辞典 |url=http://ejje.weblio.jp/english-thesaurus/content/%E7%A5%9E |year=2013 |publisher=GRAS Group, Inc.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Holtom|first1=D. C.|title=The Meaning of Kami. Chapter I. Japanese Derivations|journal=Monumenta Nipponica|date=January 1940|volume=3|issue=1|pages=1–27|doi=10.2307/2382402|jstor=2382402}}{{Verify source|date=June 2022}}</ref>

Although ''deity'' is the common interpretation of ''kami'', some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ono|first1=Sokyo|last2=Woodard|first2=William P.|title=Shinto, the Kami Way|date=2004|publisher=C.E. Tuttle|location=Boston, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0-8048-3557-2|edition=1st|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x-w59vegZoIC&q=shinto+the+kami+way|language=en}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=January 2017}}

Some etymological suggestions are:
* ''Kami'' may, at its root, simply mean ''spirit'', or an aspect of spirituality. It is written with the kanji {{lang|ja|神}}, Sino-Japanese reading ''shin'' or ''jin''. In Chinese, the character means ''deity'' or ''spirit''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tw.dictionary.yahoo.com/dictionary?p=%E7%A5%9E |title=神 - Yahoo奇摩字典 搜尋結果 |publisher=Yahoo Dictionary |date=2013-01-01 |access-date=2017-01-01}}</ref>
* In the [[Ainu language]], the word ''[[kamuy]]'' refers to an [[animism|animistic]] concept very similar to Japanese ''kami''. The matter of the words' origins is still a subject of debate; but it is generally suggested that the word ''kami'' was derived from Ainu word ''kamuy''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nonno|first=Tresi|year=2015|title=On Ainu etymology of key concepts of Shintō: tamashii and kami|url=https://culturalanthropologyandethnosemiotics.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/on-ainu-etymology-of-key-concepts-of-shinto5.pdf|journal=Cultural Anthropology and Ethnosemiotics|volume=1|issue=1|pages=24–35|access-date=5 June 2016}}</ref>
* In his {{Lang|ja-latn|[[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."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gall|first1=Robert S.|title=Kami and Daimon: A Cross-Cultural Reflection on What Is Divine|journal=Philosophy East and West|date=January 1999|volume=49|issue=1|pages=63–74|doi=10.2307/1400117|jstor=1400117}}</ref>

Because Japanese does not normally distinguish [[grammatical number]] in [[noun]]s (most do not have singular and plural forms), it is sometimes unclear whether ''kami'' refers to a single or multiple entities. When a singular concept is needed, {{nihongo|''-kami''|神}} is used as a [[Suffix (name)|suffix]]. The [[Reduplication|reduplicated]] term generally used to refer to multiple ''kami'' is ''kamigami''.<ref name="Yamakage" />{{rp|210–211}}