Kotan-kar-kamuy (コタンカㇽカムイ, lit. 'world-making-god') is the

creator deity A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatris ...

of the

Ainu people The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Y ...

. He should not be confused with god of the land

Kotan-kor-kamuy Cikap-kamuy (also called Kotan-kor-kamuy, which should not be confused with Kotan-kar-kamuy) is the Ainu ''kamuy'' (''god'') of owls and the land. He is responsible for overseeing the behavior of humans and ''kamuy''. He is considered a deity of ...

, or the god of the sky

Kandakoro Kamuy Kanda-koro-kamuy is the Ainu ''kamuy'' (''god'') of the sky. He is the prime originator of Ainu mythology, responsible either directly or indirectly for the creation of all things. Mythology While Kanda-koro-kamuy is believed to be a powerful ' ...

. According to missionary

John Batchelor John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world his ...

, all

kamuy A ''kamuy'' ( ain, カムィ; ja, カムイ, kamui) is a spiritual or divine being in Ainu mythology, a term denoting a supernatural entity composed of or possessing spiritual energy. The Ainu people have many myths about the ''kamuy'', passed ...

are intermediaries responsible to Kotan-kar-kamuy in the Ainu religion, who is regarded as the almighty and eternal ruler of the universe.John Batchelor: The Ainu and Their Folk-Lore, London 1901, p. 35, p. 575–585. This led to assumptions that the Ainu faith had originally been

monotheistic Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford ...

. Although he stands on top of the hierarchy of gods in Ainu mythology he is only rarely worshipped. 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.Norbert Richard Adami: Religion und Schaminismus der Ainu auf Sachalin (Karafuto), Bonn 1989, p. 40-41.

References

{{Ainu-stub Ainu kamuy Creator gods