I read on a site that Aokigahara have a kami, but when I search on I do not think anything about, does anyone know anything? I also read once that kamis are affected by the energy of where they live, as a place where people go to kill themselves would have a kami? (at least a good kami?)
1 Answer
In essence, Shinto states that Kami are elements of the landscape, forces of nature, spirits of the dead, roads, tools, anything really - there are over 300 categories of Kami according to Shinto tradition, and thousands of these have been given names. They can have good and evil qualities. Mount Fuji, for example (Aokihagara is located at the foot of the Fuji) is considered an extremely powerful Kami. According to Shinto, it's equally valid to state that Aokihagara has a Kami than it is to say that every tree and leaf of grass in Aokihagara has their own Kami. None of these is listed and named in the Kojiki, but that can be said of most Kami.
As for the relation between Kami and suicide, it's important to understand that neither Shinto nor Buddhism have the concept of sin associated with suicide like in the Abrahamic religions. For centuries, suicide was an honorable alternative for the nobility and the samurai to the humiliation of defeat as defined in Bushido. Westerners easily generalize the commonality of the practice to include the common people and sometimes even extend this generalization into modern times. This perception is mostly based on movies like the ballad of Narayama, itself based on a novel which describes a folk legend called obasute. This has never been a common practice.
Shinto does have the concept of kitsune, trickster Kami, which until the late 19th century were thought to be responsible for possession and mental illness. However, very few Shinto practitioners would subscribe to the notion that Aokihagara is exclusively inhabited by Kitsune that drive people to suicide. The sad fact is for the Japanese suicidals it has the same "appeal" as for example the Empire State building has for American suicidals.
