Encyclopedia of Shinto

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カテゴリー1： 2. Kami (Deities)
カテゴリー2： Concepts of Kami
Title
Tenjinchigi
Text tenjin chigi
A collective term for the kami of heaven (tenjin) and kami of earth (chigi). The expression was strongly influenced by Chinese thought; in China, "heavenly deities" referred to the "Emperor Above in High Heaven" (Haotian Shangdi); the sun, moon, and stars; "Master of the Middle, (Sī-Zhōng) "Master of Destinies" (Sī-Mìng) and deities of wind and rain, while "earthly deities" included the gods of the soil and grain, the five sacred mountains, and the five annual sacrifices. In Japan, the expression tenjin chigi is used most often to refer to amatsukami and kunitsukami, but a certain discrimination is made in Kojiki and Nihongi based on Chinese thought, and chigi tends to be used only in those cases where "heavenly deities and earthly deities" are mentioned together as a pair. See amatsukami, kunitsukami.

-Endō Jun

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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