Are 神 and 神 the same?


My friend asked me if I know what 神仙 means so I tried to look it up and almost
all the results I got were 神仙 instead of 神仙. Which appearently means something
like a hermit or an immortal person that has divine powers. But back to the
question are 神 and 神 basically the same Kanji meaning wise? Maybe someone can
help.




Yes, 神 and 神 are basically the same kanji with the same meaning. More
precisely, 神 is a [_kyūjitai_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABjitai)
(historical form), and 神 is the _shinjitai_ (modern form). 神 must be used
almost everywhere now, but the old version may be used intentionally to add
some flavor in a historical drama and such.

Note that Japanese people do not consider them exactly the same. Native
speakers almost certainly notice if the old form (神) suddenly appears in a
sentence. This cannot be compared to true
[allographs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allography) such as two modern
forms of Latin "a" or "g", or [two modern forms of
そ](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/53835/5010), which are hardly
noticeable to modern native speakers.




Yes, 神 and 神 are basically the same kanji with the same meaning. More
precisely, 神 is a [_kyūjitai_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABjitai)
(historical form), and 神 is the _shinjitai_ (modern form). 神 must be used
almost everywhere now, but the old version may be used intentionally to add
some flavor in a historical drama and such.

Note that Japanese people do not consider them exactly the same. Native
speakers almost certainly notice if the old form (神) suddenly appears in a
sentence. This cannot be compared to true
[allographs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allography) such as two modern
forms of Latin "a" or "g", or [two modern forms of
そ](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/53835/5010), which are hardly
noticeable to modern native speakers.

