ABSTRACT
IN addition to Emperors and their close relatives, many undoubtedly historical persons (ningen-shin) can be found enshrined in Shintô. Some of them are of nation-wide fame and dwell in large temples which have given an impressive number of bun-reï, while others enjoy only local reputation and are hardly known outside a province, a town or a village. The reasons and circumstances which have led to their kamification* vary considerably from one to the other. Some were thus honoured for the single reason that they were more or less remote ancestors of powerful families or clans. Some others-far fewer than is generally believed by Western observers-are worshipped because they received very unfair treatment during their life-time, and their souls had to be appeased. In many other instances, a simple incident in their life, or the way in which they died, struck people’s imagination as very queer or unexplainable and this was found sufficient reason for erecting shrines to them.
