The kami are the deities and sacred spirits at the heart of Shinto. The pantheon's creator generation is the primordial couple Izanagi and Izanami, who formed the islands of Japan and gave birth to countless gods of nature before death divided them.
From Izanagi's purification descend the great celestial kami: the sun goddess Amaterasu, the moon god Tsukuyomi, and the storm god Susanoo, whose domain overlaps that of the thunder kami Raijin. Together they govern the forces of heaven and the changing seasons.
