Kanji Character #1 - KAMI

KAMI

Happy middle of summer everyone.  I am digging up this blog from the grave and turning it into my next project: each new post from now on will be somewhat related to a new Kanji character that I will write about and meanwhile try to learn.  I thought this could be a creative way to learn Japanese Kanji for myself and perhaps other people out there as well that stumble upon this blog some day.

My first name is Kamilah but most people call me "Kami" for short.  Earlier this summer I set out on one of the most amazing adventures of my life: I travelled to Japan.  When I was asked for my name over there, I would simply reply "Kami" thinking "Kamilah" was too long and complicated a name.  The reactions of the Japanese people were mostly either surprised, impressed, or they would laugh.  During my first week, I picked up this book called "Shinto: The Kami Way" by Sokyo Ono that I found in a bookstore outside the Kyoto National Museum.

Book I picked up in the Kyoto National
Museum bookstore

I then realized my name in Japanese is the word for "god" or "spirit" or "deity".  It comes from the Shinto religion, which is the indigenous faith of the Japanese people.  Shintō is composed of two ideographs.  The kanji above can also be called "shin", or "kami", and then 道 (dō or tō) meaning "way".  In other words, "Shinto" implies faith in the kami or spiritual life and harmony attained through worship and in communion with the kami.  It is an all-inclusive term embracing the various faiths which have the kami-idea (including Buddhism and Christianity).

So I decided to learn this Kanji character first because I found it interesting how my nickname had a deeper meaning in Japanese culture and spirituality.  

Now for the Kanji!

神
Kunyomi:  かみ - "kami"
Onyomi: シン - "shin", ジン - "jin"
Meaning: god(s), spirit(s), mind, soul

Jōyō Kanji taught in grade 3
JLPT level N3
347 of 2500 most common used kanji in newspapers.

神社 - "jinja" means Shinto Shrine

神主 - "Kan'nushi" means Shinto priest

神風 - "Kamikaze" means Kamikaze (in WWII a Japanese aircraft loaded with 

explosives that would make a deliberate suicidal crash on enemy targets),

or it means mysterious wind.

神隠し - "Kamikakoshi" means mysterious disappearance. 

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