Arahitogami

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Arahitogami (現人神) is a Japanese word, meaning a kami (or deity) who is a human being. It first appeared in the Nihon Shoki (c. 720) as the words of Yamato Takeru saying: "I am the son of an arahitogami."^[1]

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Major kami Amaterasu Ame-no-Uzume Inari Izanagi Izanami Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Important literature Kojiki (c. 711 CE) Nihon Shoki (720 CE) Fudoki (713–723 CE) Shoku Nihongi (797 CE) Kogo Shūi (807 CE) Kujiki (807–936 CE) Engishiki (927 CE)
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See also Edo neo-Confucianism Glossary of Shinto History Kokugaku Ko-Shintō Mythical creatures Nippon Kaigi Religion in Japan Secular Shrine Theory State Shinto Syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism
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In 1946, at the request of the GHQ, the Shōwa Emperor (Hirohito) proclaimed in the Humanity Declaration that he had never been an akitsumikami (現御神), divinity in human form, and claimed his relation to the people did not rely on such a mythological idea but on a historically developed family-like reliance. However, the declaration excluded the word arahitogami.

In Shinto it is somewhat common for a person to be revered as a god, especially after they died, examples include Sugawara no Michizane and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

It is also linked to the Chinese concept of Worship of the living.