Reimagining the Watchers as Shinto Kami

I have been fascinated by Kami, the spiritual beings in Japan’s Shinto religion, for many years. The term "Kami" is often translated as "gods" or "spirits," but this doesn't fully capture their nature. They are much more than that, like sacred energies or essences, present everywhere in nature.

Kami can be found in mountains, rivers, trees, and rocks; but can also be ancestors and abstract concepts like fertility, or prosperity. Kami represents the sacred element of the world. They maintain the harmony between the spiritual and physical worlds and are believed to influence daily events both great and small. Amaterasu, the sun goddess, is considered to be the greatest Kami, as she is also the ancestor of the Imperial family. Some Kami are mentioned in Japan’s oldest written texts, and for centuries many have been worshipped in shrines.

I wanted to reimagine the Biblical Watchers as Kami. It's fascinating how the Watchers, when viewed through a Shinto lens, take on characteristics that feel quite natural within Japanese spiritual tradition. The Watchers' role as teachers of forbidden knowledge transforms into something closer to the Kami's role as guardians and embodiments of natural forces and human endeavours. Here's how some of the prominent Watchers could be reconceptualised as Kami:

Sariel → Tsuki-no-Kami - Sariel is one of my favourite Watchers. He reminds me of Sin, the Sumerian moon god. I picture him living high in the mountains, where the moonlight shines on his long white hair. He watches over the courses of the moon, and taught humans the wisdom of the cosmos and the phases of the moon. Imagining him as a Kami, he could be Tsuki-no-Kami, also known as Tsukuyomi, whose name means moonlit night, or "reading the moon”. In Shinto, Tsuki-no-Kami rules the night sky, while his sister Amaterasu, Kami of the sun, rules the day. He is misunderstood, sometimes proud and stern, but he is also known to read poetry, and gets lost in dreamy states. Tsukiyomi loves beauty and etiquette. Some of his attributes, such as being proud, and the paradox of being stern but also dreamy, fit well with Sariel’s nature. Although Sariel does not chase the sun, he rather enjoys basking in the moonlight and watching the world below. 

Tsuki-no-Kami, also known as Tsukuyomi, moon Kami, could be the Watcher Sariel

Baraqiel → Raijin - Baraqiel  is the “lightning of god”, who also shared the secrets of the cosmos with mankind, specifically those of the stars and constellations. His power to manifest lightning is both fascinating and terrifying, and he reminds me of the Anzu bird, or the Garuda, who can conjure lightning and bring storms, and who can be both benevolent and malevolent, depending on the situation. The Kami of thunder and lightning is Raijin, a fearsome spirit with red skin and the claws of an eagle. With his twin brother Fūjin, Kami of the wind, they unleash powerful storms, but they also bring needed rain for crops. Despite being storm-bringers the twins bring order to chaos and protect the land from invaders. Like Baraqiel, Raijin can be protective or destructive, depending on what is needed.

Azazel → Amatsumara - 1 Enoch 10:8 says “And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azâzêl: to him ascribe all sin.” Azazel, master of the forge, who taught humans metalworking and craftsmanship, who taught the arts of cosmetics and beautification, has gotten a bad rap. He is, in the Yom Kippur, the bearer of all man’s sin. Yet Azazel is not deserving of this. He may have taught mankind how to work metal and craft weapons, but he did not incite them to turn those weapons upon each other. He did not cause the moral decay of humanity.

“He taught mankind to forge swords, handling both his hammer and his blade with equal grace. And though he loved mankind, he feared them as well. This was their land. He had tread upon it without invitation. A stranger. He was many wonderful things, but he was not human.” Book of the Watchers, Angelarium

Amatsumara, the Shinto deity of blacksmiths and the smith of Heaven, is the perfect Kami counterpart for Azazel. A divine craftsman, he takes pride in his swords, and ensures that his students use their tools and weapons responsibly. Amatsumara is incredibly strong, but he is also thoughtful and supportive to those who dedicate themselves to the craft of blacksmithing.

Azazel (from Rage of Bahamut) is closer to the Watcher Azazel than the large, one-eyed Amatsumara:-)

Semjaza (leader of the Watchers) → Ame-no-Oshihomimi  - Semjaaza is a divine paradox, the embodiment of heavenly order who chose disorder. Orchestrating the rebellion of 200 Watchers, despite knowing that he was violating divine law, required immense courage. So determined was he to teach humanity that he risked it all to interact with humans and create offspring. There is no Kami who directly compares to Semjaza, but Ame-no-Oshihomim, one of Amaterasu's five sons, who was originally chosen to descend and rule the earthly realm, makes an interesting comparator.

Ame-no-Oshihomimi was supposed to bridge heaven and earth, but when he looked down at the chaos below, he refused - he wouldn't cross that threshold. Semjaza actually did it - he led the descent, he crossed the boundary, he was determined to engage with humanity regardless of consequences.

In one tradition (Shinto), the divine heir's refusal to descend maintained cosmic order. In the other tradition, the leader's determination to descend created cosmic disorder. Same threshold, opposite choices, different cosmological consequences.

If we view Semjaza through the Shinto lens, his offspring would have been venerated, they would have his divine bloodline as he descended to rule the earthly realm. Instead, Semjaza’s story has been twisted, and his offspring, the Nephilim, were considered evil, and needed to be destroyed.

Interestingly, Shinto mythology includes numerous examples of Kami who had relationships with humans. Ōkuninushi, known as the "Great Lord of the Land," is depicted in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki as having multiple consorts. In the famous myth of the "Hare of Inaba," Yagami-hime is a human princess who chooses to marry Ōkuninushi over his eighty brothers. She later flees back to Inaba, fearing the jealousy of Ōkuninushi's primary wife, Suserihime.

In the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, Ōmononushi-no-Kami, the mountain god of Mt. Miwa is famous for marrying human women. He visited a beautiful woman named Ikutamayorihime nightly, becoming her husband. When her parents asked her to sew a thread to his garment to identify him, the thread led to the shrine of the mountain god, revealing his identity.

Unlike the Book of Enoch where the unions of Watchers' with humans were portrayed as deeply transgressive, in Shinto these connections are often seen as creating important bloodlines or founding clans. Many noble families in ancient Japan claimed divine ancestry through such unions.

The offspring of these unions wouldn't be viewed as "nephilim" (monstrous giants) but rather as arahitogami - living Kami, or humans with divine essence. These special humans often became heroes, leaders, or founders of important lineages rather than destructive giants who were consuming the world.

What I find particularly interesting is how reframing the Watchers as Kami shifts the moral framework entirely - from a stark narrative of rebellion and punishment to a more nuanced view of cosmic balance, impurity, and the complex relationships between divine and human realms.

In Shinto

• The Watchers actions wouldn't necessarily make them "evil" but rather beings who created disorder by transgressing boundaries between realms

• They might be seen as Kami who became too deeply involved with the human world, creating imbalance and creating kegare - a disruption of the cosmic order

• Their punishment could be interpreted as a form of harae or purification ritual on a cosmic scale

  
  

This perspective transforms the narrative from one of cosmic rebellion to one of boundary-crossing that created both problems and possibilities in the human world - much more aligned with Shinto's more ambiguous and balanced view of spiritual forces.

I hope you have enjoyed viewing the Watchers through a Shinto lens. There is an interesting paradox, and I actually prefer the Shinto perspective of the fall as creating a cosmic imbalance, one that needed to be addressed, but through ritual, not a global flood.