ABSTRACT
Although the Japanese word kami is usually translated into English in terms such as deity, god, or spirit, none of these words precisely captures its full meaning. The ambiguous nature of kami itself is considered not only unique in religious and cultural meaning but also noteworthy in terms of its deep fixedness in the Japanese psyche.
According to Megumi Yama we can find these kami in the Kojiki, the oldest Japanese creation myth: in the very beginning, before the appearance of the ‘First Parents’ who created the world, many generations of invisible kami float in and out of ‘being’ one after another. They gradually take kami form, moving from intangible to tangible, from invisible to visible, from abstract to concrete. Although each embodies a separate kami, ultimately they show orientation as a whole.
Yama argues that through exploring this orientation in a connection of seemingly fragmented images, an important theme may emerge. Such a concept may finally lead to the Buddhist idea of jinen—a state in which everything flows spontaneously. What is more, Ane-no-minaka-nushi, Master-of-the-Centre-of-Heaven, who ‘became’ as the first kami is hiding him/herself and resides in the center of universe. He/She is an invisible kami, who does ‘nothing. And he/she is not a collection of multiple kami, yaoyorozu-nokami, which might imply the idea of holism at the core of Shintoism.
