FUKUOKA, JAPAN: Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine

• Website:  http://www.dazaifutenmangu.or.jp/other/
• Access:  0:10 h walk from station

GATEWAY TO JAPAN:

This shrine is dedicated to Tenjin, the deified Sugawara no Michizane, kami of scholars.  The present head priest claims direct descent from Michizane.  The precincts are planted with numerous flowering plums.  The famous Flying Plum that followed Michizane into exile stands on the right before the shrine.  On the left is a plum given by the mother of the Taisho emperor as a prayer for his “recovery” (he was mentally frail).  The Momoyama-style Honden was rebuilt in 1583.  The unpainted inner sanctum housed Michizane’s tomb until the Meiji period, when it was forbidden for shrines to contain graves, and the tomb was replaced by a statue.  (At the same time, the Buddhist Nio in the gate were replaced by archers.)  To the right of the grounds is the Homotsukan (Treasure House) with a collection devoted to Michizane, including many personal relics, an Edo-period picture scroll of the shrine’s festival, and an unillustrated text of the Tenjin Engi, an account of Michizane’s life and deification.  Behind the hall is a museum of Hakata clay dolls depicting Michizane’s life.  At the rear right corner of the shrine is a stone tub full of umeboshi (pickled plum) pits donated by devotees; supposedly if you split a plum seed, you can see Tenjin.