Shinigami (死神?, "death spirit") is the personification of death that evolved in Japan, having been imported to Japan from Europe during the Meiji period. This image of death was quickly adopted and featured in such works as the rakugo play Shinigami and in Shunsen Takehara's Ehon Hyaku Monogatari (One-hundred Story Picture-Book).

The term shinigami may also be used more loosely to refer to any death deity. It seems to be a recent term, however, as it belongs to no specific Shinto deity and is rarely used in folklore.

Perhaps the first appearance of shinigami in Japan was in a rakugo play titled Shinigami. It is thought that this play was based on the Italian opera Crispino e la Comare, which was in turn based on Der Gevatter Tod, a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm.

Today, the use of shinigami for any number of supernatural beings associated with death in Japanese manga and anime is common.

The following are Japanese death deities but are usually not referred to as shinigami:

  • Enma (-ō, -daiō)
Enma, also known as Yama, is a deity from Buddhist and Hindu tradition who judges the dead with either reward or punishment in Jigoku (a world in the afterlife usually referred to in English as the Japanese "Hell").A goddess in Shintoism, wife of Izanagi. Izanami is a goddess of creation who later became a goddess of death.
shinigami - A Japanese angel of death, in mythology. The equivalent of the Western "grim reaper," although shinigami are a whole class of entities and not just one
Shinigami (死神?, literally "death god") are a race of extra-dimensional beings who survive by killing humans to extend their own lives. Shinigami in this series are not responsible for every death that occurs; people will eventually die regardless of whether or not the Shinigami pay attention to them, but a Shinigami can end their lives sooner than intended for their own benefit.