عشق به کمال

The world Shinto expresses the centrality of the concept of Kami within the developing tradition

The kami are numberless and nu7minous powers or spirits inherent in nature and associated with the forces of growth and renewal

The relationship between kami and nature is stressed from the introduction of the creation myth in the Nihongi Before Heaven and Earth were produced , there was something which might be compared to a cloud floating over the sea . It is first produced in the mud . This became straightway transformed into [a good] .o

The kami were neither personalized forces nor heavenenly figures sitting in judgment on the affairs of men

However , they could be called upon to aid men and women or , if angered , be mollified by ritual purification and entertainment

Said to number eight million , the kami were actually numberless because any person , living or dead , and any place or object with numinous or transcendent qualities could be venerated as a kami

Including emperors , courtiers and warriors as well as fearsome spirits , they customarily resided in the sky , in rocks . trees , waterfalls or islands

Their messengers included deer , foxes and other animals

Their wills could be interpreted by priests and shamans

to be continue