Kami come into existence either as a spontaneously manifesting spirit or as the reincarnation of a particularly noble soul. Of course, even here there seem to be exceptions, and frustrated scholars often wonder only half-jokingly whether the gods themselves vary these rules only to cause scholastic arguments and frustration. A kami associated with a knife, frog, or single pebble in a stream would generally be quite small and unimposing, while a kami associated with a mountain, redwood tree, or elephant would be proportionally larger and more powerful.
One thing that does remain constant, though, is the relationship between a kami’s size and the import of its ward. To the kami, these apparently arbitrary classifications make perfect sense, and their attempts to explain the reasoning to others generally result in confused listeners and frustrated kami. The jinushigami, for example, are a race of kami that associate with all manner of regions, while the kodama concern themselves narrowly with the protection of specific trees. As the nature of reality changes, so do the kami.įurther complicating attempts to catalog and categorize kami is the fact that there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to what sorts of wards get specific types of kami. Accordingly, kami influence is usually regional in nature-the kami simply aren’t numerous enough yet to protect all of creation.ans of those parts of nature that could not protect themselves, kami have proven remarkably adaptive. As such, all kami seek to reproduce and thus expand their influence-the more kami, the more wards what benefit from their protection. In practice, there are far more wards in creation than there are kami. These are collectively called “wards” by kami, who often think of them similar to how a human might think of a young child placed into his or her care. There are countless species of kami-in theory, every type of animal, plant, object, and location could be served by its own type of kami. As the nature of reality changes, so do the kami. Originally intended as guardians of those parts of nature that could not protect themselves, kami have proven remarkably adaptive. Kami are ancient, mystical, and otherworldly spirits created eons ago by the gods.
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