Within Shinto, the spiritual landscape is populated not by a single, all-powerful creator, but by a vast multitude of kami—beings that can be understood as deities, spirits, or sacred presences. These kami are revered as powerful spiritual realities rather than omnipotent gods, and they are closely tied to natural phenomena, communities, and the continuity of lineage. Estimates speak of thousands, even hundreds of thousands or more, reflecting a worldview in which the sacred permeates the world in countless forms. Each shrine typically enshrines particular kami, and different regions may honor local manifestations that root the tradition in specific places and histories.

Among this multitude, certain kami occupy a central place in myth and ritual. Amaterasu Ōmikami, the sun goddess, is regarded as the most important deity and is understood as the ancestress of the imperial family. Her siblings, Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the storm god, and Tsukuyomi, the moon god, complete a triad that links celestial order with the forces of weather and night. Inari, associated with rice and agriculture, stands as one of the most widely venerated kami, embodying fertility and prosperity in daily life. Hachiman, revered as a god of war and a divine protector of Japan, reflects the concern for protection and martial virtue that has shaped much of the tradition.

The pantheon also includes kami whose origins lie in human lives, revealing how Shinto blurs the boundary between the human and the divine. Tenjin, for example, is the deified form of Sugawara no Michizane and is honored as a kami of scholarship and learning, showing how intellectual and moral excellence can become a focus of sacred reverence. Beyond such prominent figures, Shinto recognizes nature kami associated with mountains, rivers, trees, and rocks, as well as ancestral kami linked to families and rulers. Functional kami, connected with particular activities such as farming or crafts, further demonstrate how every sphere of life can be sacralized.

At the mythic foundation of this cosmos stand the creation deities Izanagi and Izanami, the primordial couple who brought forth the Japanese islands. Their presence in the tradition underscores a vision in which the land itself is not merely a backdrop for human activity but a sacred product of divine generative forces. Taken together, these various kami form a richly layered spiritual universe, where divinity is encountered in the sun and the storm, in the scholar and the warrior, in the ancestral line and the living landscape.