|
Title |
Text |
|
| 1 |
Imikotoba |
Taboo words. Special words used by people performing kami rituals, and by those attending them, in the Imperial Palace or in shrines. People used imikotoba for the duration of the ritual in the place where it was being performed in order to preserve the purity of the rite by avoiding ce... |
|
| 2 |
Inadama |
Inadama is the spirit that dwells within the rice plant and governs its cultivation and successful harvest. From ancient times people prayed for a bountiful harvest by welcoming the descent of the Ta no kami (the deity of the rice fields) from the mountains. In autumn, when the harves... |
|
| 3 |
Itsuku |
To serve, and perform rites for, the kami , having purified the body and mind and exorcised all polluting influences ( kegare ). According to Motoori Norinaga, itsu means the bright and pure, all dirt and pollution having been washed away. Though itsuku came to be used later as a term of ... |
|
| 4 |
Iwau |
Written 祝う or 斎う. To maintain taboos or to physically abstain in order to seek the auspicious. It has the meaning of a period of abstinence ( kessai ), maintaining physical purity as a prerequisite for serving the kami . Later it came to be used to mean both praying for auspicious things a... |
|
| 5 |
Jindaimoji |
A general term for uniquely Japanese character arrays or character systems thought to have existed in ancient Japan before Chinese characters ( kanji ) were introduced. Also called " kamiyo moji ." According to Kojiki and Nihongi , in the sixteenth year of Ōjin Tennō's re... |
|
| 6 |
Kakurigoto |
Hidden matters. Also read kamigoto. Kakurigoto appears in one writing in Nihongi , being used as the opposite of arawanikoto (that which is visible, apparent, manifest), and as a synonym for kamigoto (" kami affairs"). It signifies the invisible actions of the kami , tho... |
|
| 7 |
Kakuriyo |
The hidden realm. The antonym of utsushiyo (顕世、現世). The same as Yāmei, Meifu and Yomi, it is the realm where kami and spirits are considered to dwell eternally and pursue their activities. It is a supernatural, supersensory realm not easily discerned from this world, generally unde... |
|
| 8 |
Kami |
This " kami ," which is written 神人, is not to be confused with kami in general (神, see kami , § Definitions and Typology ). The kami here is considered to mean a kami with a human nature, but it is also used to refer to " kami and human beings." There is no fixed interpret... |
|
| 9 |
Kamigoto |
Kami matters. Antonym of arawanikoto (visible matters). Also used with the meaning of kami rites, festivals. An alternative passage in Nihongi says that Takamusuhi commanded Ōnamuchi (Ōkuninushi), "Let the visible matters over which you have control be governed by my gran... |
|
| 10 |
Kamiumi |
Birth of the kami . After Izanagi and Izanami finished creating the lands and the islands beginning with the Great Country of the Myriad Islands (see Ōyashima), they gave birth to various kami ( kamiumi ). According to Kojiki , the first kami to be born was Ōkotooshinoo, symbolizing th... |
|
| 11 |
Kamiyo |
The prehistoric age of the kami . It is also more simply used in the sense of "ancient times" or "great antiquity." In particular it refers to the age in which the kami were active, based on the myths in the Kamiyo sections of Kojiki (Book 1) and Nihongi (Books 1 and 2... |
|
| 12 |
Kamuwaza |
Also written 神業 and神事, and pronounced alternatively kamiwaza and kanwaza . It refers to that which concerns the kami or the acts of the kami . It clearly refers to rites performed for the kami , as in Engishiki , in the section concerning the officers of the Middle Palace: "After th... |
|
| 13 |
Kanjō |
Transferring the divided spirit of the kami to another shrine. The transferred kami is then called kanjōjin . Originally a Buddhist term referring to seeking the Buddha's teachings and an invocation to the buddhas in this world to eternally bring salvation to living beings. In Japa... |
|
| 14 |
Kannagara |
Also written with characters such as 随神、神随、神在随、随在天神、乍神、神長柄、神奈我良、and 可牟奈我良. Nagara , made up of the particle na and gara , "true character," is a word expressing dignity. Kannagara has been interpreted in various ways, such as " kami just as they are," "... |
|
| 15 |
Kannarau |
To learn from the behavior of the kami. The term appears in Kojiki : "My reign is according to the kami ." It has been interpreted as being synonymous with kannagara but it is a more functional expression of its spirit. In meaning it is close to "in conformity with the anc... |
|
| 16 |
Kegare |
A polluted and evil condition; a concept opposite of purity. A condition of taboo in Shinto. From ancient times transgressions ( tsumi ) have been understood as the result of human behavior, but kegare is seen as the result of naturally occurring phenomena. It was thought that when th... |
|
| 17 |
Keishin sūso |
A set expression composed of two Sino-Japanese compounds keishin and sūso . As one of Shintō's basic concepts, the phrase means to revere and honor kami and to respect and honor one's own ancestors. At its root, this unified notion of keishi sūso is the ancient Japanese religious cons... |
|
| 18 |
Kenkoku |
To establish a country, or to establish the foundations of a country for the first time. It refers to the birth of a nation. It is the same as hatsukuni ( chōkoku ). Generally, nations in the ancient past had histories of both tribulation and glory leading up to their establishment as cou... |
|
| 19 |
Kessai |
The same as saikai (purification through abstinence) and monoimi (abstinence). It is the purification of body and mind prior to a rite through the avoidance of contact with ritual pollution ( kegare ); this is done in order to perfect the qualifications of the person who serves as the ... |
|
| 20 |
Kinki |
Taboo. To forbid any contact or proximity with things that should be abstained from. It is believed that to break the taboo would be to invite misfortune such as injury and illness. For example, people performing kami rites should avoid contact with polluted things for a specified pe... |
|
