Kotan-kar-kamuy
Kotan-kar-kamuy
Deity of the Ainu people
Kotan-kar-kamuy (コタンカㇽカムイ, 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] or the god of the sky Kandakoro Kamuy.
According to missionary John Batchelor, all kamuy are intermediaries responsible to Kotan-kar-kamuy in the Ainu religion, who is regarded as the almighty and eternal ruler of the universe.[3] This led 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]