The Land of Ten Thousand Fortunes

Faith is a real and tangible thing to Kiga, and only the foolish choose not to believe. The kami are demonstrably real, the gods are easily angered, and signs of magic and wonder can be seen even in the distant corners of the Empire—if not by a samurai or peasant, then by someone whom they know and trust. 
Merged by the second Emperor, Hantei Genji, Kiga's religious beliefs encompass three different forms of worship: ancestor worship, or the worship of a samurai’s blessed antecedents who have ascended beyond the wheel of reincarnation; Fortunism, the direct worship of the gods; and Shinseism, the study and practice of the Tao of Shinsei.
The most fundamental of religious observances revolves around the worship of a samurai’s own ancestors. From Yomi, the spirits of one’s forebears watch over their descendants, receiving prayer for guidance, aid, and good fortune. Nearly every house in Kiga contains an ancestral shrine where family members offer prayer and dedication to stone statues of kin, asking for blessings, protection, and intercession. 
Beyond the spirits of their own, the people of Kiga revere and appease the elemental spirits of nature, agriculture, and other domains. This worship of the immortals who dwell in Tengoku and the myriad lesser spirits dwelling in Ningen-dō is known as Fortunism. Temples and shrines to the Lesser Fortunes exist in the hundreds, and the sanctuaries celebrating the Seven Great Fortunes dominate the skylines of the Empire’s greatest cities. Although they are usually invisible to the eye, the kami have a few servants who can hear and speak to the kami. These mortals are known as shugenja, and their invocations to the Fortunes and the elemental kami can produce miraculous effects.
While Fortunism celebrates diversity, another line of philosophical thought emphasizes unity. Called “Shinseism” for the man who promulgated its core beliefs, the ideology focuses on a core of simplicity: all the universe comes from the Void, and all will eventually return to it. Embracing the oneness of the five elements, or rings, and living in accordance with the principles of an ordered society could, according to Shinseism, enable one to transcend the cycle of rebirth and attain Enlightenment. These teachings were recorded in full during Shinsei’s audience with the first Emperor and became recorded in the Tao of Shinsei.
Following the Tao means acting in accordance with virtue and the harmony of the universe, which itself leads to order and the furtherance of good over evil.
The Tao is studied and debated by the Brotherhood of Shinsei, a vast collection of monastic orders, each with an individual approach to study and practice. This religious heterodoxy occasionally gives rise to potent heresies, and many divergent sects of Shinseism have appeared over the centuries.

Mortal Intermediaries

The kami interact with Kiga through natural phenomena, but they make their will manifest to devoted mortals. Spirits may accept sincere devotion by blessing a lay priest from the peasant caste. Such priests cannot compel obvious miracles from the kami, but they can bless fields, sanctify ritual spaces, perform weddings and funerals, practice auguries, and create good luck charms and talismans blessed by their favored deities.
When a samurai manifests the ability to communicate with the spirits, they are often given the specialized, secretive training to become a shugenja, a samurai priest who wields miraculous power. A common misconception exists that shugenja can speak directly to the spirits using human language, but in truth it is a delicate translation of emotions and instincts, which can be misinterpreted. Under the tutelage of other shugenja, the samurai learns prayers, offerings, devotions, and invocations designed to entreat the assistance of the kami, sometimes in spectacular ways. Titanic fireballs, weaving beautiful illusory displays, creating great fissures in rock, or washing away the despair of battle—with the proper prayers to the kami, all things are possible.

The Fortunes of Kiga
Many powerful Fortunes, or gods, exist. Ekron reigns supreme over Meido in his role as Fortune of Death and Judge of the Dead, while Megumi, Fortune of Heroic Guidance, often appears to aid minor samurai throughout the Empire.
In ages past, different tribes venerated different Fortunes depending on the needs and specializations of their villages. After the formation of the Empire, it became the sacred right of the Hantei to declare a new Fortune, elevating deceased former mortals to the ranks of divinity. Such was the fate of Osano-wo, son of Hida, Fortune of Fire and Thunder.
Some theologians believe that all of the Fortunes were originally mortals whose deeds were cause for veneration, and that path can still be tread today. Whether through proving oneself a true paragon or treading other, secret paths, new gods can ascend to the Heavens.