Sugawara no Michizane: From Kyoto to Dazaifu and Tenjin

Michizane was born into a family of scholars and made his name at the imperial court. In 877 he became professor of literature at the academy, and by 897 he had risen to the senior third rank. After his death the same palace became the scene of his revenge in legend: its hall was struck repeatedly by lightning, and the court blamed his vengeful spirit. The Shishinden, the Throne Hall, was the largest building of the Inner Palace. The old palace is gone; its grounds lie within today's Kyoto.

Location precision: The palace buildings no longer stand; the pin marks the palace site recorded for the Heian Palace.

In 886 the court sent Michizane to govern Sanuki. He served four years, until 890. In 887 he petitioned the Buddhas and the Shinto kami to relieve a drought. The posting was productive: up to 26% of his surviving poetry dates from this short period.

Location precision: The province is named, not a single site; the pin marks the Sanuki area in Kagawa.

In 901 his rival Fujiwara no Tokihira accused him of favouring Prince Tokiyo. Michizane was demoted to a minor post at Dazaifu in Kyushu, and his whole family was banished. Dazaifu supervised the affairs of Kyushu and received foreign emissaries, but it was also a place of exile for high-ranking courtiers. Its government ruins are now a National Historic Site.

Location precision: The pin marks the Dazaifu government ruins; where Michizane lived in exile is not given in the records.

Visitor guidance: The government ruins are a National Historic Site in Dazaifu.

Michizane died in exile in 903, at 57. Legend says an ox carrying his body stopped near a Buddhist monastery and would not go on, so he was buried there. The shrine is built over his grave. Its plum tree Tobiume is said to have uprooted itself and flown from Kyoto to him, and about 6,000 plum trees grow in the grounds. The Momoyama-style main hall seen today dates from 1591.

Visitor guidance: A major shrine in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture; plum trees are the highlight when they bloom.

Back in Kyoto, the shrine was first built in 947 to appease Michizane's angry spirit. In 986 he was deified with the title Tenjin, and over time he became a kami of scholarship. Students come here to pray for exam success, and a Plum Blossom Festival is held every 25 February, with an open-air tea ceremony served by geiko and maiko.

Visitor guidance: Open to visitors in Kyoto's Kamigyō-ku; the grounds are very crowded when the plum trees blossom.