Facts about The Eight Million Gods
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Izanagi and Izanami, the primordial creator couple in the Eight Million Gods tradition, are credited with forming the Japanese islands through a ritual stirring of the ocean with a jeweled spear.
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Amaterasu, the sun goddess and one of the most revered kami in the Eight Million Gods tradition, is enshrined at Ise Grand Shrine, Japan's most sacred Shinto site.
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Priests at major Shinto shrines perform elaborate rituals called goshintai to embody and commune with the Eight Million Gods during ceremonies, a practice requiring years of specialized training in sacred movements and chanting.
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Household Shinto altars called kamidana contain offerings of rice, salt, and sake to honor the Eight Million Gods and protect families, with placement traditionally on the highest wall facing south or east.
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The Izumo Grand Shrine in Shimane Prefecture, dedicated to Okuninushi, one of the most important kami in the Eight Million Gods pantheon, undergoes complete reconstruction every 60 years in a ritual called Sengu dating back to 1744.
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Matsuri festivals celebrating the Eight Million Gods occur throughout Japan's calendar year, with over 100,000 registered festivals annually attracting millions of participants in ritual processions and offerings.
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Torii gates marking entrances to Shinto shrines throughout Japan serve as physical boundaries between the sacred realm of the Eight Million Gods and the everyday human world.
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January 15 marks Coming of Age Day in Japan, a national holiday when young adults visit Shinto shrines to pray for blessings from the Eight Million Gods during their transition to adulthood.
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Purification rituals in Shinto practice involve salt and water to cleanse spaces of negative spiritual influences before worshipping the Eight Million Gods, a practice documented since at least the 8th century CE.
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Kami in the Eight Million Gods framework include nature spirits, ancestors, and even inanimate objects like rocks and trees, reflecting Shinto's core belief that divinity permeates all existence rather than residing solely in deities.
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Inari shrines, dedicated to the kami of rice and prosperity within the Eight Million Gods framework, number over 32,000 throughout Japan, making them the most abundant Shinto temples in the country.
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Shinto tradition recognizes approximately 8 million kami or gods throughout Japan, a number reflecting the religion's animistic belief that divine spirits inhabit natural phenomena and locations.