kedar

What’s a Shinigami, eh? Let's examine the written text, Kanji [including hiragana], excluding all the minor details, here it is:

~ 死に神 [or just 死神]. To begin with, the character 死 [し -shi] means death. As an example, the verb “to die” is shinu [死ぬ]. Next, に represents the sound ''ni'' in hiragana, Lastly, the character, 神, means God [kami]. So, shinigami literally means: Death God or God of death. However, correctly speaking, "kami" aren't necessarily Gods. They can be just mere spirits or forces of nature. And as is considered, death is a force of nature. If you ask a Shinto priest, that's what they will tell you. In Shinto tradition, as in other such religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, there are figures known as the death-deities or -gods.. But, in actual shinto scriptures, there isn't much [..] if not at all references to as shinigami being the term chosen to represent the principal Gods of death such as Goddess [Megami] Izanami.

~!! Shinigami are basically those figures which represent death that collect and transport/conduct souls of the dead into the other world, whatever that maybe is where the actual Death God make judgements [..] A term that is an exact equivalent to shinigami, which is used in Hinduism and also in Buddhism is Kinkara. They essentially gather up all the dead souls in the physical world and bring them to Jigoku [Japanese for hell] or Naraka [Sanskrit for hell]. It is here, where the Death God(s) dwell such as Enma Dai-O; he is Lord Yama, whose sister is Yami [in Sanskrit]. I am pretty sure that my description is a bit confusing, but you know what, Jigoku Shoujo is a great anime to watch to get a better idea of all this. It depicts many of these concepts. [--'''''] But yes, indeed, learning about all this in an actual temple would give you a much better and an actual idea.

!! To conclude, shinigami aren’t real Gods themselves, but are quasi-corporeal representations of death. Take my little sister for example, if asked who shinigami were, she would replay saying that they are evil/bad things that wear dark clothes, which take you away through death or some thing like that. So I guess, they are thought of as grim reapers. Keep in mind though, many of the traditional beliefs do get altered through the filter of pop culture. So through that, all the underlying core details do get lost.

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