Fantasy feudal Japan - pt.2

[A little foreword. While I was writing this article, I experienced some issues with text size, its position and its general style. I tried my best to correct this, but after almost a YEAR of sporadically trying to fix it, I've given up. I've been sitting on this article for so long that is ridiculus, so I need to put it out. Thank you for your comprehension.]

I've changed my mind. Yes, this is how I will start this article. In the previous installment of this series (which was never actually meant to be a series), I said that Clerics and Druids wouldn't fit well in a fantasy Japan setting. Since then I studied a little more of shintoism as a personal interest, and I found out that I was wrong. I'm not going to explain Shinto to you since I'm not qualified at all, but I would like to re-visit my approach to these two classes in such a setting.

In a way, older editions of D&D adressed this situation by simplifying the matter. For example, the 2nd edition book "Legends & Lore" (which I happen to own, thanks to my uncle) presented some historical pantheons, like celtic, egyptian, chinese and japanese, in a way that was playable in the game. Such adaptation ultimately fell short in my opinion, by not adapting the classes themselves. I want to go beyond that, by providing advices and tweaks.

© Wizards of the Coast (photo taken from my copy of the book)

Clerics
Shintoism has priests, generally called kannushi if male or miko if female. Each sex has different roles within the clergy, both sacred and mundane. Each shrine is dedicated to a kami and has its own priesthood, including a chief priest called guji. There are no sacred texts and, in the end, the main task of a shinto priest is to assure that the mutual relationship between mortals ad kami continues to be good. How this works with the cleric mechanics? Well, let's say it could work. The main thing to understand is that a kannushi/miko is not necessarily chosen by a kami (like, for example, by a divine call); he/she is a figure that chose to intercede with said kami for the benefit of society. Prayers do exist and the kami can respond to those, but there are no tennets of faith, commandments and so on. There is no concept of sin in Shinto (much of that comes from zen buddhism), while the concept of purification is much more important (which is why I suggest that a cleric in this setting should alway have prepared the spell Purify Food and Drink).

One problem is that I can't see a reason for a kannushi or a miko to wear armor and wield weapons to fullfil their role, aside from story or particular situations. Justifications can be found of course, since there is no prohibition to do so, but we need also to remember that armor wasn't common outside of military environments. And still, unless your cleric used to be a samurai, they'll likely have access only to an armor made of leather (which leaves us with light armors and the hide medium armor). Look at this wikipedia page for further reference. It is very important to not mistake shinto priests with warrior monks (Sohei), which were buddhist, sometimes wore the yoroi and wielded a naginata or a katana. I'll talk about them in another installment of this series. Now that this matter is somehow solved, lets get wet with kami and their associated domains. We're bound for a ride.

To be fair, a complete list of kami and their domain is nearly impossible, as it was numbered that up to two and a half million of them exist (technically, now even more than that: I've heard somewhere that the number increased to eight million!). So I'll focus on some of the most important ones and to have a sort of guidance, I'll start with the list provided in that "Legends & Lore" book I mentioned above.

Izanagi and Izanami - all domains - neutral

Amaterasu - Light - neutral good

Tsukuyomi - Twilight/Order - lawful good

Hachiman - War - neutral

Susanoo - Tempest (storms)/Trickery - chaotic neutral

Raiden - Tempest (thunder)/Death - chaotic evil

O-Kuni-Nushi - Arcana/Life (medicine)/Nature (animals) - neutral good

Ama-Tsu-Mara - Forge - neutral

Inari - Life/Nature (plants) - chaotic good

Ho Masubi - Forge/Light (fire) - chaotic neutral

Nai No Kami - Nature (earthquakes) - lawful evil

O-Wata-Tsu-Mi - Nature (sea) - lawful neutral

Kura Okami - Nature (rain) - chaotic good

Shina-Tsu-Hiko - Tempest (wind) - chaotic neutral

Amatsu-Mikaboshi - Trickery - neutral evil

An alternate list (following what Wikipedia lists as "Major Kami") would be:

Amaterasu-Ōmikami - Light - neutral good

Ame-no-Uzume - Twilight/Light/Life

Fūjin - Nature (wind)

Hachiman - War - neutral

Inari Ōkami - Life/Nature (plants) - chaotic good

Ninigi-no-Mikoto - Life/Order - lawful good

Ōkuninushi/Ōmononushi - Arcana/Life (medicine)/Nature (animals) - neutral good

Omoikane - Knowledge

Raijin (sometimes Raiden, as for above) - Tempest (thunder)/Death - chaotic evil

Ryūjin - Nature (sea)/Tempest

Suijin - Nature (water)

Susanoo-no-Mikoto - Tempest (storms)/Trickery - chaotic neutral

Takemikazuchi - Tempest/War

Takeminakata - Nature/War

Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto - Twilight/Order - lawful good

I've excluded two kami from this list (Tamanoya and Toyotama-hime), as I wasn't able to assign them any Domain. These list of kami represent those who are interested in some degree into mortal affairs. Beyond them, there are other kami (the 5 Kotoamatsukami) which came into being by themselves and were not created by others. Thus, they are far, far removed from mortality, as they are more concepts than actual deities. If Izanagi and Izanami can be viewed as Overgods (as they are part of the Kamiyonanao, the Seven Generation of Deities) like Ao in the Forgotten Realms, the Kotoamatsukami are the Dungeon Master. For more specific information, google these deities!

As you can see in both lists, many of these kami have the Nature or Tempest domain. This is due to the fact that shintoism has a very strong connection to natural phenomenon, as all the animist faiths. This is the perfect way to start talking druids.

Druids
A member of this class is more likely (but not exclusively) a common worshipper than an actual priest. They could be particularly devoted to O-Kuni-Nushi or Inari, maybe even Takemikazuchi, but even to kami that represent natural forces or actual geographic locations (Mount Fuji is considered to be/have a kami, for example). Another way is to consider them as shamans, as in proto-shintoism. Druids could also be seen as followers of Izanagi and Izanami, since they're the kami of creation.

That said, they are excellent if you wish to differentiate from all the Nature Domain Clerics that this pantheon has. The Circle of the Land does wonders at this job.

* * *

Well, this article is over. This could be the most I've ever prepared behind the scene, but it was a truly interesting journey. If you'd like to have a primer on shintoism, why not start with the Kojiki, which is the first written account of japanese mythology. Many of the myths surrounding kami are quite interesting, sometimes even funny. They reminded me a lot the Greek pantheon.

Stay safe!
Daniele