#Lesser Gods of Japan — Divinity 1

Contents

Canon — Lesser God types. In the Japanese Shinto concept of the "eight million kami," the ones that actually make up the vast majority are the Lesser Gods. They can dwell in nearly any space or tool.

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#Scent — The Kami in the Palm of a Hand

A single sheet of paper is pasted on the kitchen post. A small mirror hangs on the wall. A peach branch is laid on the threshold.

Each one of these is a kami's seat. Even without calling its name, by the mere fact of being there it already functions. One leaving home in the morning bows in passing to the gate kami, and one entering in the evening offers a cup of water to the kitchen kami. That is all. With that alone, defilement cannot enter that room.

A Lesser God is unseen but present. Even after the householder dies and the house becomes a ruin, if there is some presence left in that room — the name of that presence is a Lesser God.

"What guards a house is neither the roof nor the walls. It is the small things that dwell in between." — a folk-house (民家) maxim

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#Law — Common Rules for Lesser Gods

• Main base-class path: mostly none (a pure divinity). If any, Commoner 1st–3rd dan.
• Daily benefit: 1 use per domain.
• Return: at each dawn, recovers if there is a small dedication (a cup of water, a handful of rice).
• Combat power: zero. No divinity intervention is possible in combat checks.

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#Type 1 — Kitchen Kami (火伏せの神)

#Scent

The kami that governs the kitchen fire. Enshrined as a small talisman or kamidana on the kitchen post of most Japanese folk houses.

Sanbo Kojin (三宝荒神 · Sanbo Kojin) — a composite divinity mixing Buddhism, Shinto, and Onmyodo. The most common name for a kitchen kami. Depicted in a fierce form with three faces, yet within the house it works quietly.

"As long as there is fire in the kitchen, that house is alive." — a folk-house saying

#Law

• Divinity: 1 / Domain: 1 (the fire of that kitchen)
• Divine Authority: Quelling the Fire — automatically fail a check for a fire breaking out in the kitchen (that is, no fire occurs). 1 time per day.
• Base: no class, or Commoner 1st dan (an old woman or housewife).

#GM Note

The kitchen kami is an unseen guardian of household work. It draws no notice, but folk belief holds that the house does not burn because of this kami's power. For a scenario in which a house burns, the hint "Sanbo Kojin left its seat today" works well.

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#Type 2 — Gate Kami (門神)

#Scent

A boundary kami that dwells at the gates of houses, villages, and temples. It blocks defilement from entering.

Hang a peach branch on the main gate, paste a pair of talismans, or wind a shimenawa (注連縄) around it, and that place becomes the gate kami's seat. This world and the next, inside and outside, the clean and the defiled — at every boundary there is a gate kami.

"To enter the gate, you must speak your name. If the name is defiled, the gate closes of itself." — gate kami lore

#Law

• Divinity: 1 / Domain: 1 (the gate or boundary in question)
• Divine Authority: Declaration of the Boundary — automatically fail the passage check of 1 defiled or Tatari being trying to pass through the gate (1 time per day).
• Base: no class.

#Named Example

• The gate kami of a great temple — a special gate kami enshrined at the gates of great temples such as Enryaku-ji or Todai-ji. Its Divinity can rise as high as 2 (fluid).

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#Type 3 — Road Kami (道祖神)

#Scent

The guardian kami of the road. Dwelling at the boundary between villages, at crossroads, and on roadside stones, it protects travelers and pilgrims. It is often carved as a husband-and-wife stone and stands by the roadside.

A lonely traveler prays to the road kami at a crossroads — "By which road shall I go safely?" An answer rarely comes, but the answer that is no answer is sometimes the right road.

"Let the one who is lost sit at the crossroads stone. The stone knows you first." — a traveler's saying

#Law

• Divinity: 1 / Domain: 1 (the crossroads or stretch of road in question)
• Divine Authority: Guide — does not lose the way on that stretch. Automatically succeed 1 travel check.
• Base: no class.

#GM Note

The road kami is an aid in travel scenarios. When a lost PC arrives at a crossroads and prays to the road kami, give 1 hint. If the road kami is destroyed, that road becomes a cursed road (raised yoma encounter rate).

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#Type 4 — Well Kami, Privy Kami, Storehouse Kami

#Scent

The Lesser Gods of the living spaces within a household. The most everyday, and the least conspicuous, of kami.

#Well Kami

• Domain: "the water of this well."
• Divine Authority: keeps the water clear. If a defiling substance mixes in, it is known at once.
• Note: if forgotten, the well grows turbid and may even convert into a "Tatari well."

#Privy Kami

• Domain: "this privy."
• Divine Authority: blocks disease (such as epidemics) coming from the privy.
• Folklore: in Japan there is a tradition that "the privy kami is actually a beauty." Usable in a scenario.

#Storehouse Kami

• Domain: "the grain and provisions of this storehouse."
• Divine Authority: keeps the quantity and quality of provisions unchanged.
• Usefulness in the Sengoku period: very important in managing military rations.

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#Type 5 — Object Kami (器物神)

#Scent

A kami that dwells in an old tool. A sword that guards its master, an umbrella that keeps off the rain, a 100-year-old tea kettle. When a tool grows old a spirit dwells in it — when that dwelling is benevolent, it becomes an Object Kami.

Note — do not confuse with tsukumogami.

#Law — Boundary Rule (Canon)

• Tsukumogami (付喪神) belong to the co category. An old tool converted into a yoma. Hostile or neutral.
• Object Kami (Lesser God) are friendly, life-assisting kami that dwell in an old tool. They are not yoma.

They look like the same phenomenon, but their natures are exact opposites. When intervening with a tool, the GM must first decide which of the two it is. The two do not dwell in one tool at the same time.

#Object Kami Template

• Divinity: 1 / Domain: 1 (the tool in question · "○○'s ○○")
• Divine Authority: Awareness of the Tool — automatically fail a check for that tool to break (1 time per day).
• Base: no class.

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#Law — Procedure for a GM to Generate a Lesser God (the 30-second template)

1. Designate a space or tool: "this kitchen · this gate · this well · this sword," etc.
2. Fix the domain, 1: the core function of that space or tool.
3. 1 Divine Authority: "it prevents a small accident that would occur within it."
4. Base class: almost always none.
5. Dedication frequency: a small thing every day.

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#Scent — Wisdom for Using Lesser Gods

Do not place a Lesser God at the center of a scenario. A Lesser God serves to make a fine tone in the background. A being the reader recognizes once and passes by.

However, when a Lesser God is destroyed or lost, a great ripple comes. If the kitchen kami of an old village is forgotten, a great fire breaks out in that village within 3 years — this is a scenario hook.

For a PC to pray to a Lesser God is an act of low cost and small gain. Do not overuse it (the Divine Authority is 1 use per day).

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#Law — Summary of Lesser God Types

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#Scent — In One Sentence

"When it is said the eight million kami are many, most of those eight million are Lesser Gods."