Kami

Kami (Japanese: 神 (かみ) ) are "great spirits", specifically the spirits that associate with all things in the world of Kamigawa.

Description

Kami come in an overwhelming variety of forms, even among the same "species" of kami, and their brand of magic is mysterious and beyond anything mortals have conceived. The greatest kami of all are the five myojin, rivaled only by the mighty O-Kagachi. It was because the theft of O-Kagachi's scion, that the Kami War began.

When the kami manifest into the ordinary world, their manifestation is a bit unstable and creates strange energy objects orbiting around them.

Neon Dynasty

About 1200 after the Kami War the kami are threatened by the growth of the modern city of Towashi. Many fled to the remains of the Jukai forest, and were hostile to humans. For this reason, Eiganjo trained many kami diplomats to try to keep the peace between the mortal and spirit realms.

Background

According to Brady Dommermuth "[t]he overarching premise of the Kamigawa block is 'Shinto gone wrong.' In Shinto, a belief system indigenous to Japan, everything has a kami. Kami are gods of a sort; they’re the eternal essences of things, people, places, ideas, and so on. To give Kamigawa its own distinct look, as well as to reflect the fact that the plane was in turmoil, we concepted the kami as bizarre creatures that look out of place in the natural world, as though they couldn’t even realistically exist within it."

Subclassification

• Akuba. An evil, hag-like spirit-world creature.
• Baku. A benevolent spirit with aspects of a lion and other animals that is said to eat the bad dreams of children.
• Bunrei. A spirit created by dividing another spirit.
• Genju. A great spirit of the land.
• Goryo. The vengeful spirit of a mortal who died in anger or without the proper rites.
• Haru-Onna. “Spring woman,” a spirit-world creature in the form of a woman surrounded with burgeoning growth.
• Kaijin. A kami of water.
• Kemuri-Onna. “Smog woman,” a spirit-world creature in the form of a woman shrouded in smog.
• Kiri-Onna. “Mist woman,” a spirit-world creature in the form of a woman enveloped in mist.
• Kirin. A mythical, otherworldly creature with aspects of a horse, a dragon, and a deer or goat. Before the war, kirin were omens of good fortune and long life.
• Kodama. A tree spirit.
• Myojin. “Bright divinity.” A kami of great importance.
• Nikko-Onna. “Sunlight woman,” a spirit-world creature in the form of a dazzling woman.
• Oni. Demon, bloodthirsty and bent on destruction.
• Zubera. The faceless kami of a human who has been pulled into the spirit world.

Notable kami

• The All-Consuming Oni of Chaos, the mightiest of the oni.
• Adamaro, the feared kami of a famed human warrior who was consumed by his own anger and envy.
• Akuta, a legendary kami of ashes and ruin.
• Arashi, the great kami of monsoons and typhoons, whose appearance was always accompanied by storms of shinen (“spirit fire”).
• Ayumi, the kami who “reclaimed” abandoned places in the name of nature. A faithful scribe of the ages and force of ever-living duty and calm. She appeared at the end of the assault on Fudaiju to finish off the remaining monks.
• Azamuki or Azamaki, the Kami of Treachery Incarnate, another kami of treachery, residing in the body of a simple sanzoku (mountain bandit).
• Chisei, a strange kami of intelligence said to reward the finding of patterns within thoughts.
• Dew, the Cloudhoof Kirin, spends every 1000 years among mortals before reuniting with the other kirin to discuss his experiences.
• Eiyo, Kami of the Honored Dead the kami of the honored fallen.
• Gravelighter, the Kami of Forgotten Clearings, a territorial spirit that lives in the Jukai Forest.
• Hikari, the kami that guards the border between day and night.
• Himoto, the Kami of the Spark, a spirit in tanuki form who became Kaito Shizuki's partner. She is responsible for igniting Kaito's spark.
• Hokori, a great kami of dust and drought.
• Horobi, a powerful kami of death's wail that came into being after the Reito Massacre.
• Ichiga, a mighty forest kami residing in the body of a simple monk.
• Iname, a major kami that has two aspects — one of life and one of death.
• Jaraku, a meddlesome kami of manipulations residing in the body of a simple wizard.
• Jiwari, the great kami of earthquakes, whose appearance was always preceded by waves of shinen (“spirit fire”).
• Kaiso, a protective kami of lingering loyalties residing in the body of a simple samurai's attendant.
• Kakkazan, great kami of the Mountain Fire.
• Kagemaro, the first human to become so evil that his spirit became an oni.
• The Kami of Exultant Revelry.
• The Kami of Empty Graves
• Kaminari, the great kami of thunder and lightning.
• Kataki, a legendary kami of retribution.
• Kira, an infamous kami that can ward itself and others against spells using coatings of magical glass.
• Kiyomaro, the ancient kami of Kamigawa's first daimyo.
• Kodama of the Center Tree
• Kodama of the East Tree. Before the Kami War, the monks of the East Tree enjoyed a life of prosperity alongside this spirit, who used floating spores to spread new growth throughout the area. When the Kami War broke out, the kodama appeared to go dormant, sinking its roots into the ground and becoming unresponsive. Unfortunately, the reality was much less peaceful. The kodama was spreading its roots through the territory of the East Tree, and from the ground burst a new kind of spore unlike any the monks had ever seen. These spores all struck at once, latching onto humans and syphoning their energy to create new spiritual growths. At the end of the twenty-year war, the kodama sank into dormancy once more. While it hasn't stirred since, the remaining monks still pray to it nervously—from a safe distance.
• Kodama of the North Tree
• Kodama of the South Tree
• Kodama of the West Tree
• Kuro, a powerful oni who took many as his minions, including the nezumi Ink-Eyes and the ogre Muzan.
• Kyodai / That Which Was Taken, the child of O-Kagachi, imprisoned by the daimyo Konda
• Kyoki, a dreaded oni whose gaze induces insanity.
• Mannichi, a mischievous, strange little kami of fevers and hallucinations.
• Masumaro, the once-revered kami of the first human to live by the ways of the kami.
• Mochi, the Smiling Kami of the Crescent Moon, a powerful yet diminutive kami who attempted to manipulate Toshiro Umezawa, while secretly working with the Soratami.
• The Myojin of Infinite Rage, the kami of all red magic. During the final months of the Kami War the Myojin of Infinite Rage gathered his all his worshipers, even though they usually fight among themselves, to launch a large attack against Eiganjo. But O-Kagachi already attacked the citadel and the Myojin's force had to deal with the samurai protecting the Eiganjoan refugees, as well as Yosei, the Morning Star.
• The Myojin of Life's Web, the patron spirit of all green-aligned things, and the god worshipped by the Orochi and the Jukai Monks. She had Michiko captured, hoping that her death would end the Kami War. But the princess escaped, and not much later her forest was attacked by the Moonfolk of Oboro.
• The Myojin of Night's Reach, the kami of black magic.
• O-Kagachi. The great kami of all things; all kami are in a way part of the O-Kagachi. Its manifest form resembles an unbelievably immense eight-headed serpent.
• Oyobi, a great kami of the sky and of winged creatures.
• Pipe, the Skyfire Kirin, spends every 1000 years among mortals before reuniting with the other kirin to discuss his experiences.
• Scale, the Infernal Kirin, spends every 1000 years among mortals before reuniting with the other kirin to discuss his experiences. When living among mortals, he often takes the form of a disease known as the Black Wind or the Weeping Plague.
• Seizan, a powerful, evil oni known for its ability to deceive.
• Sekki, the great kami of the turning of the seasons.
• Shimatsu, an oni overlord.
• Shirei, a legendary kami, a kind of shepherd of the dead, who watches over the disgraced and abandoned battlefield called Shizo.
• Silverbeard, the Celestial Kirin, spends every 1000 years among mortals before reuniting with the other kirin to discuss his experiences.
• Soromaro, the once-respected kami of a famous half-human, half-soratami wizard.
• Terashi, the great kami of the sun.
• Thorn, the Bounteous Kirin, spends every 1000 years among mortals before reuniting with the other kirin to discuss his experiences.
• Towazu, the great kami of things unspeakable, also called the kami of the forbidden. Summoned by students at the Minamo school and afterwards began appearing before great seekers of knowledge and owners of arcane scrolls, leaving their owners comatose or insane with the arcane knowledge it imparted.
• Yomiji, the sacred and revered kami who guards the passage from life into death.
• Yukora, a terrifying, murderous oni that was magically imprisoned for decades by 99 powerful kannushi.
• Yuki-Onna. “Snow woman,” a spirit-world creature in the form of a beautiful woman impervious to cold.
• Urami, a legendary oni caged underground for centuries.

External links

• Magic Arcana (September 14, 2004). "A Kamigawa Glossary, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Magic Arcana (January 24, 2005). "A Kamigawa Glossary, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Magic Arcana (May 31, 2005). "A Kamigawa Glossary, Part 3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.