It's not a god in the contemporary sense. I think you could compare them to how norse, greek, or egyptians/babylonians saw gods (also why assassins creed japan would make a lot of sense)
@Icryalot You mean "monotheistic Abrahamic sense", which is not at all the sum total of the contemporary sense of "god" - just ask say the Hindus, the still largely Shinto Japanese or any of the other groups that technically count as rank idolatrous pagans to the monotheists.
Ah you're right not the same as the Judo-Christian-Muslim God. Though you are incorrect as most Japanese only do Shinto as a tradition kinda thing rather than religious. Idk about secular Shinto but for the masses it's not a mutually exclusive type of religion