Not only in the classical texts, but also in the whole history of Japanese religions, the visible world of religious phenomena is intensely affirmed because it is connected to and sustained by the invisible world of kami -spirits through the "seamlessness of the border-space" by various channels of mediation between the two worlds, the visible and the invisible, the world of kami and that of the human. The above story of the emperor Chuai involved the trance of the empress Okinaga-tarashi-hime through whom the invisible kami -spirit delivered the message. The prayers are addressed to kami through ritual, and then, following the ritual, kami returns to the invisible world. As basically concealed and invisible, kami responds to prayer by descending to earth and dwelling in tangible objects such as sacred space, tree or rock, or human beings. 47 –48.) There are many evidences of the invisible nature of kami. The most original seven kami "at the time of the beginning of heaven and earth" in Japanese myth, are all "not visible," or "they hid their bodies" in the myth (the Kojiki, pp. Secondly, the kami is basically concealed and invisible. There are many cases of the kami that curses (tatari-gami), who harms people when disrespected, but bestows blessings when the kami is well respected. One of the most famous examples appears in the Kojiki (chapter 92) that the emperor Chuai had to die because he disregarded the will of kami revealed through an oracle. In that sense, kami is regarded as a terrible being who has superhuman powers to reign over territory, a being in charge of fertility and well-being. Those kami who are in charge of epidemics have the power to spread illness, and also to heal. There are numerous cases in which kami reveals awesome and dreadful natures, and yet the same awesome kami often shows gentle and loving natures at the same time. And the kami must be well respected otherwise, it punishes people. The kami who is in charge of fertility of a territory or the well-being of its society usually reigns over the territory and can harm or destroy it when disregarded. The term kami refers to all beings -good and evil -that are awesome and worthy of reverence. First of all, the kami in the archaic level of religious experience, manifests its totality, and it is ambivalent.
There are several important characteristics of kami in the early Japanese expressions. The characteristics of kami in the early phases of Japanese history share many common elements among the primary religious traditions of various communities in the world. In some expressions, the whole universe is permeated by the sacred kami nature, thus constituting a monistic universe.
These can refer to concrete landscapes of place, sky, mountain, hill, river, sea, or forest, or sometimes to the nameless and extraordinary. From a historical and religious viewpoint, what is meant by the Japanese word kami cannot be exhausted by the term itself, for it is also often expressed in other terms, such as tama (spirits), as well as by names for natural things beginning with such prefixes as mi (sacred), hi (spiritual, sacred forces) and itsu (sacred power).
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