One of the messengers that is very well-known in modern Japanese stories is the Kitsune, seen in the form of a Fox. These messengers usually took the form of the animals that lived with humanity on earth. The biggest group of deities are the Kami, the highest ranking of all the Gods and those that possessed the skills to control messengers that would deliver their words to the human population. It is said that Japanese Gods are not omnipotent or even immortal, just beings of incredible power with the ability to build realities.
Amaterasu, the God of the sun, was even depicted as a white winged wolf (See main picture) in the highly successful Playstation 2 game, 'Okami'.
This gave rise to the idea that certain Gods had the power to transform themselves into various animals and mingle with the humans that lived in their world. They were the wind, the trees, the many creatures that roamed the landscape. However, rather than being entirely human, these deities were said to be part of the very fabric of reality itself. Japanese folklore and religion like many other parts of the world, has a lot of Gods.
