Shinigami (Species)

**Shinigami** (死神, "Grim Reaper", "death bringer" or "death spirit") are gods or supernatural spirits that invite humans toward death in certain aspects of Japanese religion and culture. Shinigami have been described as monsters, helpers, and creatures of darkness. Shinigami are used for tales and religions in Japanese culture.

The original shinigami race was created by Shinigami, the former strongest paganic death deity, but almost all of them have now been exterminated or consumed by Shinigami to empower him. Kami-Musubi rejuvinated the fragments of the race by making it so humans with not so pure hearts can become shinigami and serve the Kotoamatsukami as agents of death.

The shinigami are generally preceived as a 'necessary evil' amongst the younger Shinto Gods, with Amenominakanushi referring to them as 'Balancers' of his world, who purify the Yurei, lost souls who for various reasons fail to even cross Death's Stairs and cling onto the mortal worlds. They are also called upon to fend off Ayakashi, the beings who hunt and kill Yokai and Humans.

It is debated upon if the shinigami should be referred to as 'Grim Reapers' or not, since their function often differs from that of regular Grim Reapers, as they are restricted by less laws.

All shinigami carry a flower with them which represents their shinigami power. If they are blocked off, the shinigami in question will feel an intense burn from inside as their power fails to be released. If a Shinigami's **Saketsu** (鎖結, *Chain Binding*; *Viz* "**Chain**") and **Hakusui** (魄睡, *Soul Sleep*) are pierced, their spiritual powers are sealed up and they most likely can never regain their lost powers again

Almost all of the current existing shinigami were made by Izanami and so they serve her and her alone. They all possess Satan-Class and God-Class strength (or above).

## Abilities

Shinigami have a number of supernatural abilities:

**Immortality**: Because of this ability never age, and as a result, they stay young forever or at least never suffer the ravages of aging. Because of this, the shinigami will always be at their physical prime. The shinigami are also all dead, so killing them normally is impossible.

**Enhanced Condition**: After transforming, shinigami can become powerful enough to even kill Gods and Buddha. They are also capable of slaying beings with high regeneration or resiliance.

**Death Manipulation** Shinigami are experts at working with death and death power.

## Overview

In the classical literature of the Edo period, shinigami that would possess humans are mentioned. In the *Ehon Hyaku Monogatari* from Tenpō 12 (1841), there was a story titled "Shinigami", but in this one, the shinigami was the spirit of a deceased one and had bad intent, and acting in jointly with the malicious intent already within people who were living, those people were led on bad paths, which caused repeat incidents to occur at places where there was previously a murder incident, for example by causing the same suicide at places where people have hanged themselves before, and thus these shinigami are somewhat like a possession that would cause people to want to die.[*clarification needed*] Close to this, according to the essay of the Bakumatsu period titled "Hogo no Uragaki", there were the *itsuki* that made people want to commit suicide through hanging, as well as things told through folk religion such as gaki-tsuki and shichinin misaki.

In the later Edo Period, the essay "Shōzan Chomon Kishū" in Kaei 3 (1850) by the essayist Miyoshi Shōzan, the one titled "upon possession by a shinigami, it becomes difficult to speak, or easier to tell lies" was a story where a prostitute possessed by a shinigami invites a man to commit double suicide, and in the kabuki Mekuranagaya Umega Kagatobi by Kawatake Mokuami in Meiji 19 (1886), a shinigami enters into people's thoughts, making them think about bad things they have done and want to die. These are, rather than gods, more like yūki (meaning ghosts and yūrei), or evil spirits.

In the San-yūtei Enchō of classical rakugo, there was a programme titled "Shinigami", but this was something that was not thought of independently in Japan, but rather from adaptions of the Italian opera the *Crispino e la comare* and the Grimm Fairy Tale "Godfather Death".

## Known Members

* Izanami (Leader)
* Shinigami (Former Leader)
* Ebisu
* Okita Souji
* Hijikata Toshizo
* Shikome-Hime
* Kuroringo (Former)