The Kojiki reveals to us, likewise, the childlike religious ideas of the
islanders. Heaven lay, not about but above them in their infancy, yet
not far away. Although in the "Notices," it is "the high plain of
heaven," yet it is just over their heads, and once a single pillar
joined it and the earth. Later, the idea was, that it was held up by the
pillar-gods of the wind, and to them norito were recited. "The great
plain of the blue sea" and "the land of luxuriant reeds" form "the
world"--which means Japan. The gods are only men of prowess or renown. A
kami is anything wonderful--god or man, rock or stream, bird or snake,
whatever is surprising, sensational, or phenomenal, as in the little
child's world of to-day. There is no sharp line dividing gods from men,
the natural from the supernatural, even as with the normal uneducated
Japanese of to-day. As for the kami or gods, they have all sorts of
characters; some of them being rude and ill-mannered, many of them
beastly and filthy, while others are noble and benevolent. The
attributes of moral purity, wisdom and holiness, cannot be, and in the
original writings are not, ascribed to them; but they were strong and
had power. In so far as they had power they were called kami or gods,
whether celestial or terrestrial.
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