thinking about the following 3 things in rapid succession:

1) genghis khan considered himself an instrument of divine wrath, sent to purge the earth of "great sins" committed by the rulers of the various nations

2) japan was spared from the mongol invasion when a "divine wind" (kamikaze/shinpuu) destroyed the mongol fleet

3) at suwa-taisha jinja near mt. moriya, there's an annual festival called misakuchi where a priest prepares a knife and acts as if he is about to sacrifice a young male volunteer, before another priest enters at the last second and stops him. human/animal sacrifice is otherwise basically unheard of within shinto.