Kotan-kar-kamuy
Kotan-kar-kamuy (コタンカﾙカムイ, lit. 'world-making-god')[1] is the creator deity of the Ainu people. He should not be confused with god of the land Kotan-kor-kamuy.[2]
According to missionary John Batchelor, all kamuy are intermediaries responsible to Kotan-kar-kamuy in the religion of the Ainu, who is regarded as the allmighty and eternal ruler of the universe.[3] This lead to assumptions that the Ainu faith had originally been monotheistic.[2] Although he stands on top of the hierarchy of gods in Ainu mythology he is only rarely worshipped.[2] Therefore, Norbert Richard Adami criticises the monotheism theory, and holds that Batchelor's views leading into this direction resulted from a straitened and sometimes misinterpreted mode of perception based on his faith, through which they would lose in value.[4]
References
- ^ アイヌ民族博物館. "アイヌと自然デジタル図鑑". www.ainu-museum.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ a b c Dettmer, Hans A. (1994). Haussig, H.W. (ed.). Die Mythologie der Ainu. Wörterbuch der Mythologie (in German). Vol. Band VI. Klett-Cotta. pp. 199–200. ISBN 9783129098608.
{{cite encyclopedia}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ John Batchelor: The Ainu and Their Folk-Lore, London 1901, p. 35, p. 575–585.
- ^ Norbert Richard Adami: Religion und Schaminismus der Ainu auf Sachalin (Krafuto), Bonn 1989, p. 40-41.