God

The term god refers to concepts such as spirits, natural forces and superhuman beings. In Japan's native Shinto religion, "god" is usually considered synonymous to the term kami (神). It should be noted, however, that kami include a broader spectrum of beings than those found in monotheistic religions (e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, etc.), or even some polytheistic ones. Shinto is at its roots an animist religion, meaning that any being (alive or dead), object or even phenomenon can be considered a god. Also, it should be noted that the 'G' in "god" should not be capitalized when referring to Shinto gods or any other gods from polytheistic religions.

Like many polytheistic religions (e.g. those of ancient Greece and Rome), Shinto gods live among humans and have direct impact on their daily lives. While their personalities are mostly similar to humans, they possess two aspects known as Ara and Nigi (荒・和): when they are worshipped, they'll protect people and grant them blessings (ご利益, gorieki), but when angry, they'll create disasters and curses (祟, tatari). In some cases, the Ara and Nigi aspects of a god are so different in appearance and behaviour that they are named or worshipped separately. A shrine (神社, jinja) is a place for gods to occupy in order to interact with humans, which can vary in size from a small box or shelf (found in many homes) to an entire building and grounds.

Gods in the Len'en Project

In Mugenri, godhood is treated more akin to a qualification rather than a species or a state of being. When the contributions of those who are highly skilled and deeply knowledgeable in a particular area are recognised, they would be acknowledged as a "god". It is unclear who are the ones who decide on whether one qualifies for godhood, but it is known that amongst those people are some of the celestials. Acknowledged gods are given identification cards to prove their status, which has become increasingly useful since people have been losing their faith in the gods. It is possible that a god would need to take up a new surname after ascension, as seen from Sukune Katano's hypothetical god name being "Sukune Ametsukana", where Sukune takes up Yago's surname.

It is known that gods gain incredible longevity after their ascension, and have in addition been shown to have a number of other superhuman abilities, such as Yago Ametsukana's ability to hear both Arde and Hamal Cine's voices despite only one of them speaking out loud and their exceptionally strong sense of déjà vu. However, it is unclear whether they are just abilities on Yago's part, or due to their status as a god.

Gods are capable of retiring from godhood, provided that they find and train an apprentice to fill in for them after their retirement, it is unclear what effects this will have on the god after they retire.

Characters that are this species

• Jun Amanomiya (They aren't a god themself, but they are related to a rain god)
• Souko Shirami (A minor god who is also a celestial)
• Yago Ametsukana (God of Blacksmithing)

See Also

• Wikipedia's entry for Kami
• Touhou Wiki's entry for God