The Story Of Tenjin
Tenjin is the divine name of Sugawara-no-Michizane , a brilliant scholar of the Heian period, who died in Dazaifu in 903 AD. By all accounts, Michizane was a precocious youngster - composing waka poems at 5 years old and Chinese poetry by the age of 11 - and went on to become a popular governor of Shikoku before rising to the second highest position at court as minister of the right. Not surprisingly, he found no favour with his powerful superior, Fujiwara Tokihira, who persuaded the emperor to banish  © 2003 by Rough Guides Ltd. as trustee for its Authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved. Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd. Buy the book here!
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Michizane. So, in 901 Michizane, accompanied by his son, daughter and a retainer, travelled south to take up a "post" as deputy governor of Dazaifu. He was kept under armed guard until he died in despair - though still loyal to the emperor - two years later. Soon after, a succession of national disasters were attributed to Michizane's restless spirit, so in 919 Tenman-gu was built to pray for his repose. This was the first of an estimated 12,000 shrines dedicated to Tenjin in Japan.
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