113 - Animistic Soul

【精霊、seirei】

[This word combines the character for 'sprites' and 'soul/spirit'. There is another way to read this, which is also pointed on this entry, 'shouryou', in this case, '精' probably uses its broader definition, which is also 'spirit', while '霊' becomes more specific, meaning just a '(human) soul'. Also, 'animistic' doesn't actually appear in this word, I used it to immediately make the meaning obvious, but it is used in the Japanese word for animism (精霊信仰, which is a combination of this word + belief).]

A supernatural existence that is thought to reside in all living things and objects, such as the will or vigor itself. Such souls exist not only in individual organisms but also in aggregates, such as water sprites, wind sprites, and even mountain sprites.

Ancient societies often believed that everything had a soul and that the things that happened in this world were caused by forces beyond human understanding, so it was not uncommon for people to deify and worship such forces.

In the Buddhist world, the souls of the dead are called 精霊 (read as 'shouryou' in this case).

Another English word to describe this concept is 'spirit'.

In alchemy, the world was thought to have a fifth element, spirit, in addition to the four major elements of fire, water, earth, and air. In this case, spirit is the substance that fills the universe and mediates the soul of a living being with the power of the cosmic root.

Recently, due to the influence of fantasy novels, the four elements themselves have come to be incarnated, such as salamanders (fire spirits) and undines (water spirits), which could be considered animistic souls as well.