Kagutsuchi was one of the last children born to Izanagi and Izanami, two of the principle creator gods of Shinto. The Birth of Kagutsuchi and the Creation of Mountains Although not directly related to one another, he is one of several gods that links volcanoes to metalworking and human invention. Kagutsuchi is also and example of a world-wide trend among volcanic gods. His violent fires were followed, both mythologically and in real life, by growth and fertility. Kagutsuchi’s body formed many of the islands’ most prominent volcanic mountains and deities associated with them. He was so destructive that his birth killed one of the major creator goddesses, but he was also associated with creation, as well. One of these major spirits was Kagutsuchi, the god of volcanoes and fire. Many of these are minor and localized spirits, but others were well-known and influential throughout Japan. This allows even those robots that are not spiritual creatures themselves to touch the realm of the holy.In Shinto, the traditional religion of Japan, thousands of kami are associated with every aspect of the natural world and human life. Finally, fictional robots that are not gods themselves may serve as spiritual vessels for them, as puppets can serve as vessels for gods in Shinto ceremonies. They greatly resemble Shinto gods, being worthy of respect due to their impressive size and power, and existing independently of humanity while being willing to grant the requests of those they have chosen as worthy representatives. They are sometimes built by humans in need of protection, but they also frequently appear as ancient, unfathomable beings. In the second category, giant robots in anime are frequently portrayed as being god-like. Since Japanese religions already accept animals as spiritual beings, the extension to robots is a small one. This can be seen to be consistent with Buddhist and Shinto beliefs that treat animals as being spiritually similar to humans, while the Abrahamic traditions espouse that only human beings have souls. Almost never are questions raised about whether the robot has a soul. Instead, it is about as important and emphasized as the blood type of a human character. For the first category, some robots are so much like humans that their mechanical nature is not even a particularly salient feature. Fictional Japanese robots tend to fall into three categories: being equivalent to humans, being god-like, or serving as a spiritual vessel for gods. The roles for robots that are common in American movies almost never appear in Japanese works, and the reverse is true as well. Instead of being coldly rational enslavers of humanity, unsympathetic to their creators, fictional Japanese robots are just as emotional as their human counterparts and often strive to defend humans and humanity. In Japan, however, this trope is reversed. Summer blockbuster movies warn us of the dangers of giving in to hubris by creating machines that are as intelligent and capable as we are, and humorous books provide the wary with helpful tips on how to prepare for the inevitable robot revolution. Robots are an increasingly common staple of realistic science fiction.
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