Among the kami--the one term under
which they are all included--there were heavenly bodies, mountains,
rivers, trees, rocks and animals, because those also were supposed to
possess force, or at least some kind of influence for good or evil. Even
peaches, as we have seen, when transformed into rocks, became gods.[14]
That there was worship with awe, reverence, and fear, and that the
festivals and sacrifices had two purposes, one of propitiating the
offended Kami and the other of purifying the worshipper, may be seen in
the norito or liturgies, some of which are exceedingly beautiful.[15] In
them the feelings of the gods are often referred to. Sometimes their
characters are described. Yet one looks in vain in either the "Notices,"
poems, or liturgies for anything definite in regard to these deities, or
concerning morals or doctrines to be held as dogmas. The first gods come
into existence after evolution of the matter of which they are composed
has taken place. The later gods are sometimes able to tell who are their
progenitors, sometimes not. They live and fight, eat and drink, and give
vent to their appetites and passions, and then they die; but exactly
what becomes of them after they die, the record does not state.
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