In Japan, the Heian-period scholar Sugawara no Michizane is honoured as Tenjin at about 12,000 shrines. Students go to his shrines to pray, and hang up ema there: small wooden plaques.
Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.
Tenjin is Sugawara no Michizane, a scholar of Japan’s Heian period. Today he is honoured at about 12,000 shrines. Dazaifu Tenmangū, the subject of our source, is one of them.
To verify: Michizane’s dates, and how and when he came to be honoured as Tenjin; The number of Tenjin shrines, in the embassy article’s own words: accounts differ; Link to the embassy article on Dazaifu
Students visit Tenjin’s shrines to pray, and hang up ema, small wooden plaques, at the shrine.
To verify: What students pray for and write on the plaques, in a shrine’s or the embassy’s own words; How far back students’ visits before exams can be traced; Link to the embassy article on Dazaifu
Ema and omamori come from the shrine and belong to it. We do not sell them or copy them. Tenjin is honoured in a living faith, Shinto, so we draw a plain plaque, never his portrait, and make no promise about results.
