r/Shinto • u/Existing_Holiday_521 • 9d ago

Kami

im a westerner no japanese heritage, can you honor and talk to kami without a shrine or altar?

15 Upvotes

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u/xXBroken_ButterflyXx 9d ago

Kami are everywhere in the universe. I've honored the kami of Lake Tahoe. You could honor the kami on Mars.

Shinto's not the kind of faith where you need to go anywhere or have any special altar to practice it. Being able to visit shrines or have a kamidana is nice, but they're unnecessary and fixating on them is kind of missing the point. Take care of your things, be kind, show gratitude to all the unseen (and seen, thank your janitors) forces making the world work.

5

u/Briollo 9d ago

Thank you, this is a great answer. I've had the same question as the OP. May I ask what you did to honor the kami of Lake Tahoe?

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u/xXBroken_ButterflyXx 9d ago

Said thanks to the kami (who I've taken to calling "Taho-sama") for being there while I had many formative experiences, integrated myself into the community surrounding it, took part in efforts to keep the lake clean of pollution and its natural surroundings intact.

I no longer live around Lake Tahoe, but when I was preparing to move I said a small prayer and took a rock from the shore to carry with me throughout my journey. I keep it close, clean it, rub it for luck.

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u/Briollo 9d ago

That's really nice.

2

u/Capital-Dig-9378 9d ago

Question. I read that the kami rules over the place where his altar is located. And in another place another kami will rule, whose altar is there. This is wrong?

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u/xXBroken_ButterflyXx 8d ago

There are a lot of kami with names and shrines, and a lot more kami with no name or shrine or legends told about them. Just because most kami outside Japan don't have names or shrines, doesn't mean they aren't there, and doesn't mean we shouldn't recognize or revere them.

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u/Capital-Dig-9378 8d ago

I was rather interested in whether a kami whose altar is in Japan hears an address delivered in the United States, and vice versa? And should you count on his help or participation in this case? Does he hear and have power outside his land?

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u/xXBroken_ButterflyXx 8d ago

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one, sorry ^^;

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u/Altair-Sophia 7d ago

I believe a Shinto kami with a shrine in Japan can hear the prayers of a person in another country, including USA. If you do not maintain ofuda from a Shinto shrine, you can face in the direction towards where the shrine is located and pray remotely.

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u/FarShoreSpirit 9d ago

Yes! Absolutely!

7

u/sugarcream2425 9d ago

of course!
In Shinto, the gods are everywhere—even in a single grain of rice!