Research: Kami in Shinto

"In all things of nature there is something

of the marvellous"

Aristotle

The Shinto belief from Japanese culture is the belief in spiritual beings and powers known as Kami. The best western translation of Kami is ‘spirits’ and each one is associated with different natural forces or features; for example Amaterasu (Amaterasu-Omikami) is known as the sun goddess, Ebisu is the kami who brings prosperity, Konpira the kami of safety at sea and Susanoo the kami of wind who both causes and protects from natural disasters. Kami can be other things too apart from personified spirits, they can also be elements of nature such as mountains, lakes, rivers and landscapes or forces of nature like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or storms.

I got the impression that explaining exactly what Kami is a very complex thing so this is how I perceived it.

The Idea of Kami as part of the Shinto belief is what links to my project. Spiritual beings who manifest themselves as things of nature, seen and unseen, good and evil, human and other. In many Anime films this theme of Kami can be see. The Gaia theory as mentioned before could be included as part of this system, mythical creatures, magic events and nature deities all come under the banner of Kami.

Shinto at a glance

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/shinto/ataglance/glance.shtml

Kami

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/shinto/beliefs/kami_1.shtml

In Princess Mononoke (1997) there are several references that could be linked with Kami.

Princess Mononoke forest spirit day accessed 28-11-11  7-05pm

http://www.absoluteanime.com/princess_mononoke/forest_spirit%5B2%5D.jpg

Princess Mononoke forest spirit night accessed 28-11-11  7-05pm

http://www.absoluteanime.com/princess_mononoke/forest_spirit.jpg

Above is the Forest spirit who dwells in two different forms during the day and the night.

The Kodama who appear to be small tree dwelling nature spirits.

Princess Mononoke Kodamo accessed 28-11-11  7-06pm

http://unknownpoets.blogs.sapo.pt/arquivo/princess%20mononoke.jpg

This Movie trailer for Origin: Spirits of the Past (2006)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4QFFCGpFKg

It shows lots of elements of nature that seem to have a life of their own, as though they were spiritual beings or powers. I intend to watch this film tonight. IMDB outlines the story as:

“It is 300 years into the future. Earth's environment had been devastated by mankind's own foolish plans and humankind is beleaguered by the sentient forests which they have awoken. The world balance is tipped when a young boy named Agito stumbles across a machine that glowed in a strange blue hue inside a forbidden sanctuary. The machine, which has preserved a beautiful girl named Tula from the past, is activated. Tula has a "mission" that had been entrusted to her by the past...”

IMDB

This links very well with my project looking at nature and how it can be used in a fantasy aspect, such as nature spirits etc and I look forward to seeing the whole film.

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