Deity List

Anything which can be classified as a God, Goddess, or being with Godlike Power.

Dakini
荼枳尼
だきに

Translation: none; a transliteration of the Sanskrit term dakini
Alternate names: Dakiniten, Daten, Shinko’ō, Kiko Tennō
Habitat: the sky
Diet: human hearts, blood, and flesh

Appearance: Dakini—or Dakiniten, as she is commonly called in Japan—is an esoteric goddess and an important figure in Shingon Buddhism. She is usually depicted as a beautiful half-nude woman carrying a wish-granting jewel and riding a white fox. She is revered across Japan as a goddess of food and grain, foxes, and good fortune who is willing to grant any wish. She serves Benzaiten, the goddess of wisdom, and Daikokuten, the god of grain. In Shintō-Buddhist syncretism she is associated with the kami Inari. She is the Japanese version of the dakini from Indian cosmology.

Interactions: Dakini was an important goddess to the nobility and samurai classes during the Middle Ages. Both the shōgun and the emperor venerated and prayed to Dakini, believing that failure to do so would bring an end to their rule. Secret rituals relating to Dakini worship were passed down orally through the imperial household. These became an integral part of the emperor’s enthronement ceremony.

Dakini worship involved secret techniques to invoke her black magic. Knowledge of the deepest secrets of her esoteric worship was believed to grant unlimited power. The ability to trap a kitsune and force it to perform kitsunetsuki was among the powers that Dakini bestowed upon her worshipers.

Origin: In Buddhist cosmology, the dakini were originally a race of wrathful sky-dwelling demons who served Kali and feasted upon the flesh of humans. They were energetic, wise, and muse-like spirits. They looked like beautiful nude women, carried fearsome swords for cutting out hearts, and drank blood from cups made of skulls. The dakini listened to the Buddha’s teachings and converted to Buddhism. Although they required human meat in order to survive, as part of their submission to Buddism, they promised to feast only upon the meat of the recently dead. In order to ensure that they would not starve, the dakini were granted the power to see six months into the future. This way they could wait near the people who were going to die soon and feast upon their flesh before other carrion-eating demons arrived.

In China, the dakini came to be associated with jackals (possibly due to the fact that both dakini and jackals fed on carrion). Jackals did not exist in China, but the creature was described as a clever, wicked, magical beast who feeds on humans and looks like a dog. That description perfectly fit with Chinese folklore about foxes, who disguise themselves as beautiful women and feed on human life force. Jackals did not exist in Japan either, and so the word for jackals—yakan—was considered to be synonymous with foxes in Japan. Thus, the Japanese interpretation of dakini became associated with foxes.

By the time Buddhism had been transmitted from India, through China, to Japan, the dakini had been fused with various Buddhist, Shintō, onmyōdō, and folkloric concepts. In Japan, they changed from a race of demonic spirits into a single goddess resembling both a yasha and tennyo.

As a result of her long and complicated history, and the esoteric nature of her religious practice, Dakini is known by many different names, such as Shinko’ō (“Dragon Fox Queen”), Kiko Tennō (“Noble Fox Empress”), and many more due to her syncretism with Inari.

Legends: Genpei seisuiki, an extended narrative of the Tale of the Heike describes an encounter with a servant of Dakini. Long ago, and impoverished young samurai named Taira no Kiyomori went hunting and shot a fox. He thought he had killed it, but to his surprise the fox suddenly transformed into a beautiful woman. She explained that she was a servant of Dakini. She promised that if Kiyomori spared her life, she would see to it that all of his wishes would come true. Kiyomori let her go free, and began to pray to Dakini. True to the fox’s word, not long after that Kiyomori’s luck began to change. His family rose to prominence, and he became wealthy and powerful. He continued to worship Dakini, and for a time the Taira were the most powerful samurai clan in Japan. His success is often credited to Dakini’s influence.

Zeus

*Lightning God

Elohim (Angel God)

Kamigami

*Spirit God

Shinigami - Death God


hinigami
死神
しにがみ

Translation: death spirit
Habitat: places connected with death
Diet: none; they exist only to perpetuate death

Appearance: Shinigami is a broad term referring to spirits of the dead which possess and harm the living. In general, they look like humans with a grey, corpse-like pallor and horrifying features. Although their name includes the word kami, their true nature is closer to that of a ghost or an evil spirit than a god.

Behavior: Shinigami are attracted to death. They lurk around the bodies of the recently deceased. They thrive in areas which are have been tainted by evil—especially places where grizzly deaths such as murders or suicides have occurred. They haunt these impure areas looking for humans to haunt.

Interactions: Shinigami are spirits of possession, or tsukimono, which haunt people and alter their behavior. Their victims become obsessed with death and the desire to kill themselves. They obsess over any and every bad thing they may have done, fueling their desire to commit suicide. Shinigami are particularly find of possessing wicked people, however anyone unfortunate enough to see a shinigami is doomed to suffer an unnatural and violent death.

Local areas have many different superstitions regarding shinigami and how to deal with them. For example, in Kumamoto Prefecture it is believed that anyone attending an overnight vigil with a recently deceased body will be followed home by a shinigami. Upon returning home, you must have a cup of tea or a bowl of rice and lie down to sleep, or else the shinigami will possess you.

Origin: Shinigami are related to a common folk belief that evil begets evil. If a murder or a suicide takes place in a certain area, there is sure to be another murder or suicide in that same area soon. Bloodshed and tragedy can repeat over and over again until an area is ritually purified and the souls of any victims appeased. This theme is present in ancient legends such as the Tale of the Heikei, to medieval ghost stories, and even modern urban legends and film. Shinigami are a key part of this cycle; the souls of the wicked dead call to the souls of the wicked living, goading them to commit further atrocities. Unless properly exorcised, this circle of death can continue forever.

Enma Daiō
Enma Daiou閻魔大王
えんまだいおう

Translation: Great King Enma

Habitat: Jigoku and Meido

Appearance: Enma Daiō is the ruler of hell (both Jigoku and Meido) and the foremost of the 13 judges of the dead. He has dresses in the robes of an ancient government official from the Chinese Tang Dynasty, and wears a fearsome expression upon his face. He is served by two secretaries, Shiroku and Shimyō, as well as a number of other demonic servants—the chiefs of which are Gozu and Mezu. His name often is invoked by parents who scold their children, “If you tell a lie, Enma will rip out your tongue!”

Behavior: Enma’s chief duty is to judge the souls of the newly dead and send them on to their next location. He keeps a great scroll in which he records all of the good and evil deeds of each and every person to use as evidence against them when their time of judgment comes. He oversees the torturing and suffering in hell, making sure that each soul gets enough punishment.

Origin: Like many demonic figures in Japanese folklore, Great King Enma has a honji, or “true form,” which is that of a Buddha or bodhisattva. Enma’s true form is Jizō Bosatsu, the guardian of the underworld, god of travelers, and protector of children. Jizō is a warm and compassionate, beloved across Japan, deity who made a solemn vow not to become a full Buddha until all souls have been freed from suffering in hell. It is not uncommon to see small, red-bibbed, stone Jizō statues along roads and paths, and in graveyards all over Japan. While Enma may seem fearsome and terrifying, at heart, he is a kind and compassionate god, and he truly wishes to save each soul from damnation—this may be why the souls of the dead are given so many tests and trials to avoid going to hell.

Enma’s origins lie in India. In Vedic mythology he is known as Yama, the god of death. From the Vedas, the idea of Yama spread into Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism. Buddhism traveled to China, bringing Yama with it, and mixed with local religions and superstitions before being brought to Japan during the Tang Dynasty. As Chinese Buddhism mixed with Japanese religions and superstitions, he gradually developed into the god known as Great King Enma.

Hashihime
Hashihime橋姫
はしひめ

Translation: lady of the bridge
Habitat: very old, very long bridges
Diet: none

Appearance: Hashihime are intensely jealous goddesses who inhabit bridges — in particular, very old and very long bridges. As goddesses, hashihime may take different forms depending on occasion, however they are commonly depicted wearing white robes, white face-paint, an iron trivet, and carrying five candles. This is a ceremonial outfit used to perform curses.

Interactions: Hashihime ferociously guard the bridges they inhabit. As with most gods connected to a location, they are very competitive and jealous. If one praises or speaks positively about another bridge while on top of a hashihime’s bridge, or if one recites lines from certain Noh plays that feature a woman’s wrath as the main theme, something terrible is likely to happen to that person.

Despite their fearsome nature, they are highly honored by the people who live nearby, and shrines are established in their honor near the bridges they inhabit. In times of war, residents will beseech their local hashihime to guard the bridge against invaders. In times of peace, hashihime are goddess of separation and severing, and are asked to aid people in things such as break-ups, divorce, and severing bad luck. So strong is their power of severing that it is considered taboo for lovers to pass in front of a hashihime shrine together, or for wedding processions to pass in front of one. If newlyweds need to cross a bridge inhabited by a hashihime, they will instead pass underneath it on a boat rather than risk cursing their marriage.

Legends: The most famous hashihime story comes from Tsurugi no Maki, in The Tale of the Heike, and is retold in the noh play Kanawa.

A woman visited the the Kifune-jinja in Kyoto at the hour of the ox (roughly 2 am), filled with rage and jealousy towards her ex-husband who had thrown her away for another woman. Night after night she visited the shrine, praying to the gods enshrined there to turn her into a powerful demon. The woman wanted nothing else other than to see her ex-husband destroyed, even at the cost of her own life. After seven nights of pilgrimage, her prayers were answered: the gods told her that if she immersed herself in the Uji river for twenty-one nights, she would become a living demon.

The woman did as she was bid. She donned a white robe and tied her hair up into five horns. She painted her face and covered her body in crimson dye. She placed an upturned trivet on her head and attached torches to each foot. She lit a torch on both ends and placed it in her mouth. She immersed herself in the Uji river and for twenty-one days she kindled the hatred in her heart. Then, just as the gods told her, after twenty-one days she transformed into a terrible kijo with supreme power. She had become the hashihime of Uji.

That night, her husband awoke from a horrible dream with a premonition of danger. He quickly sought out the famous onmyōji, Abe-no-Seimei. Seimei recognized the dream as a sign that the man’s former wife would come and destroy the couple that very night, and promised to save them. He went to their house, recited magical prayers, and crafted two katashiro — magical paper doll representations of the man and his wife, meant to be used as substitutionary targets for the kijo’s rage. That night, as Seimei had predicted, the demon appeared. She attacked the two katashiro instead of the real couple, and Seimei’s magic worked: her power was reflected back upon her and she was driven away. The demon woman, realizing that she could not overcome Abe-no-Seimei’s magic, vanished, threatening that she would come back another time.

Hinnagami
Hinnagami人形神
ひんながみ

Translation: doll god, doll spirit
Alternate names: kochobbo
Habitat: homes

Appearance: Hinnagami are powerful spirits from Toyama Prefecture. They reside in dolls and grant their owners’ wishes.

Interactions: A hinnagami will grant its owner any wish that he or she desires. Families who own hinnagami quickly become rich and powerful; and people who become rich and famous very quickly are sometimes suspected of owning hinnagami.

Hinnagami come with a catch: if a new request is not made as soon as a wish is granted, the hinnagami will demand, “What is next?” As soon as that request is fulfilled, the hinnagami demands another, and another, and another. This pattern never ends. Because their creation comes out of human greed and desire, hinnagami cling to their creators obsessively and never leave their sides. A hinnagami’s attachment is so powerful, in fact, that even death cannot separate it from its master. When a hinnagami’s creator dies, the hinnagami will follow them to hell and haunt them for all of eternity.

Origin: Hinnagami are created through a long and complicated ritual. There are a few methods of creating a hinnagami, which vary bit by bit depending on who you hear the story from.

In the most common ritual, the person who wishes to create a hinnagami must begin collecting grave earth that has been trampled on by people during the day. Grave earth must be collected in this way every night for three years. For an even stronger hinnagami, they should take earth from seven different graveyeards in seven different villages. Once collected, the grave earth is mixed with human blood until it becomes clay-like. Then it is molded into a doll shape representing a god or a spirit that its creator worships. This doll is placed and left in a busy road until it has been trampled upon by one thousand people. Then the creator retrieves the doll, which has become a hinnagami.

An alternative method is to collect graveyard stones and carve them into one thousand small dolls, each about nine centimeters long. These dolls are boiled in a large pot until only one of them rises to the surface. The doll that rises is said to contain the combined souls of all one thousand dolls. It becomes a special type of hinnagami called a kochobbo.

Shōki
Shouki鍾馗
しょうき

Appearance: Shōki (also known by the Chinese rendering of his name, Zhong Kui) is a legendary hero and deity from ancient China. He is ugly, with a large, hulking body, a long, flowing beard, and fearsome, piercing eyes. He is usually shown carrying a sword and wearing a court official’s cap. Shōki is known as “the demon queller” for his ability to vanquish, exorcise, and even control oni and other demons. He is so feared by oni that even his image is said to scare them away. The demons he defeats sometimes become his servants. It is said that he commands 80,000 demons.

Origin: Shōki originated in ancient China during the 700’s. His story reached Japan by the late Heian period, and his popularity reached its height during the Edo period. Paintings and statues of him are still used as a good luck charms. His image appears on flags, folding screens, and hanging scrolls. Small statues of him can sometimes be seen on the roofs of older houses in Kyoto as well. Shōki is strongly associated with Boys’ Day, a holiday in May. He is revered as a god of protection from demons and sickness (particularly smallpox, which was believed to be spread by evil spirits), and also as a god of scholarship.

Legends: Shōki lived in Shanxi Province in China during the Tang dynasty. His life’s goal was to become a physician in the court of Emperor Xuanzong. Shōki was a smart and diligent student. He trained hard and passed all of the exams to become a physician. He placed first out of all of the applicants and should have easily received the position. However, Shōki was a very ugly man. When the emperor saw his face, he immediately rejected Shōki’s application even though he was the most qualified for the job.

Shōki was devastated. His dreams shattered, he committed suicide on the steps of the imperial palace. The emperor was moved by Shōki’s dedication. He felt great regret for denying the application of such a talented and brilliant man on account of his looks. The emperor ordered that Shōki should receive a state burial of the highest rank—usually only reserved for royalty—and posthumously awarded him the title “Doctor of Zhongnanshan.”

Years later, the emperor became gravely ill. Delirious with fever, he dreamed that he saw two oni. The larger one was wearing the clothing of a court official. It grabbed the smaller oni, killed it, and ate it. Then, it turned to the emperor and introduced itself as Shōki. He vowed to protect the emperor from evil. When the emperor woke up, his fever was gone.

Xuanzong commissioned the court painter to make an painting of Shōki based on his dream. Shōki became a popular deity across China (and later, Japan). He was revered as a god of scholarship for his great devotion to his studies, and as a protector against disease and evil spirits.

Taki reiō
滝霊王
たきれいおう

Translation: waterfall spirit king
Habitat: waterfalls

Appearance: Taki reiō are apparitions which are found in the basins of holy waterfalls across East Asia. These apparitions take the form of deities, most commonly Fudō Myōō. The images are so powerful that all types of demons, spirits, and yōkai will bow down before them.

Origin: Taki reiō was invented by Toriyama Sekien and first appears in Konjaku hyakki shūi. However, legends of apparitions appearing in waterfalls go back much further. Sekien’s description cites the Seiryōso (“The Seiryū Commentaries”), an annotated version of the Diamond Sutra.

Many waterfalls in Japan are associated with Fudō Myōō. He is a major focus of the esoteric Buddhist sects (such as Shingon and Shugendō), and followers of these faiths immerse themselves in icy waterfalls as part of their religious practice. Fudō Myōō statues have been erected in numerous waterfalls around Japan.

Myōō-in, a Buddhist temple in Ōtsu, Shiga has a statue of Fudō Myōō which was carved by the the high priest Sōō (831–918 CE) from a holy tree taken from the basin of a nearby waterfall. According to Mizuki Shigeru, this statue’s legend may have inspired Toriyama Sekien to document taki reiō.

Tatarigami
Tatarigami祟り神
たたりがみ

Translation: curse god, curse spirit
Diet: vengeance

Appearance: Tatarigami are powerful spirits which bring death and destruction, fire and famine, plague, war, and all forms of calamity. They are some of the most powerful evil spirits that haunt Japan, and have done much to shape the culture and politics over the country’s long history. Tatarigami can refer to powerful gods of destruction, or to the ghosts of powerful people. Famous tatarigami include gods such as Emperor Gozu, the bull-headed demon god, and Yamata no Orochi, the eight-headed eight-tailed dragon. Also included are the onryō of important historical figures such as Mononobe no Moriya, Emperor Sutoku, Sugawara no Michizane, and Taira no Masakado. In the case of historical figures, they are almost always ancient nobles who died in anguish and transformed into onryō.

Interactions: Tatarigami wreak havoc upon those who wronged them—usually other nobles. In order to appease their vengeful spirits, shrines honoring them have been built across Japan. Through proper appeasement, their curses can be lifted, or at least abated.

The Gion Matsuri in Kyōto, one of the most famous festivals in Japan, is an example of a ceremony initially designed to appease a tatarigami. During the Heian period, Kyōto suffered a number of outbreaks which were thought to be caused by Susanoo and Gozu tennō—two powerful gods of disease and destruction. In order to appease their wrath, a festival was held in their honor at the Yasaka Shrine in Gion. To keep the city free from disease, the festival was repeated every year. Eventually the connection to Susanoo and Emperor Gozu was lost, but the festival traditions remain to this day.

The appeasement of tatarigami remained an important part of religious life throughout the Heian period and beyond. The duty of pacifying these curse spirits fell to the onmyōji, and popular belief in this superstition helped onmyōdō rise in power.

Ten
天
てん

Translation: deva, celestial, god
Alternate names: tenbu, tennin, tenshu
Habitat: Tendō, the realm of heaven in Buddhist cosmology
Diet: not required, but some of them do eat and drink for pleasure

Appearance: Ten are a race of celestial beings in Buddhist cosmology. They inhabit Tendō, the highest of the six realms of existence in Buddhist cosmology. They are the most powerful celestial beings in existence, and rank below only the buddhas and bodhisattvas in Buddhist hierarchy. Many ten are revered as gods in Japan.

In general, ten resemble humans in appearance. They are often depicted with brightly colored skin, fearsome expressions, and gargantuan in size. Many ten have multiple forms, incorporating them have animalian body parts, or multiple heads and limbs. They often emit light from their bodies, and are capable of great magical feats. Ten are usually depicted wearing flowing robes or decorative armor and weapons. Specific ten are often identifiable in artwork using unique iconography, such as the animals they ride or the objects that they carry.

In a general sense, the term ten can refer to any of the inhabitants of Tendō. Sometimes all celestial beings in general–including the ashura, who do not dwell in Tendō–are included in this term. Other times, ten refers only to specific celestial beings–such as those who are worshiped as gods–while excluding the less powerful inhabitants of heaven.

Behavior: Ten are superior to humans in every way. They are stronger, longer lived, and in general much happier than humans. They can fly, they don’t require food (although some choose to eat and drink). They live in societies, and lead lives that are similar to human lives, just on a much larger scale and with far greater passions.

Despite their godlike existence, ten–like humans–eventually grow old, die, and are reincarnated. Their state of extreme bliss and power inevitably gives way to suffering. In some ways, the great passions they experience can serve as a distraction to enlightenment. They are susceptible to corruption and temptation by evil spirits. They can be overcome with feelings of pride or jealousy. As a result, after they die they might be reborn into a much worse state of existence. In this way, ten are still considered inferior to the buddhas and bodhisattvas, who have broken free from the cycle of rebirth.

Interactions: Ten are invisible to humans, except to those who have focused their mind so much that they are able to see all things as they truly are. Such people are said to have tengen–the heavenly eye. Such enlightened people can see beings from other planes, like ten, and hear their voices.

Origin: The Japanese word ten is analogous to the Sanskrit word deva, and the Buddhist devas all have Japanese counterparts in the ten. Part of the reason for Buddhism’s widespread popularity across East Asia can be attributed to its tendency to absorb local religions and customs and reinterpret them in Buddhist terms. In Buddhist mythology, the devas were originally worshipped as gods in India, but were so impressed with the Buddha’s power and compassion that they swore allegiance to Buddha as protectors of the faith. Thus, the gods of Hinduism were adapted into Buddhism early on. When Buddhism entered China, it syncretized with Chinese folk religion, and Chinese gods were interpreted as versions of the same beings found in Indian religions. Similarly, when Buddhism came to Japan, many Shintō kami were interpreted as local manifestations of buddhas and devas.

Among the ten that are the most well known in Japan are the shichifukujin (“seven lucky gods”)–Ebisu, Daikokuten, Bishamonten, Benzaiten, Fukurokuju, Jurojin, Hotei–and the shitennō (“four heavenly kings”)–Jikokuten, Zōchōten, Kōmokuten, Tamonten.