Egara Tenjin-sha Shrine

Egara Tenjin-sha Shrine is a shrine dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, the "god of academics", who is enormously popular among students studying for entrance exams. Many students visit the shrine and write their prayers on the wooden tablets called “ema”. The shrine was also closely devoted and protected by samurai and shogun because it was worshiped as a guardian of the devil’s gate, when Minamoto no Yoritomo opened the Kamakura Shogunate. The shrine’s sacred tree is a 900-year-old great ginkgo tree. This shrine was once considered as one of the three major shrines with Kitano Tenmangu Shrine of Kyoto and Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine of Fukuoka. Egara Tenjin-sha Shrine is also famous for its plum trees, and has over 100 plums planted including the earliest blooming winter plum. You can also see the sculpture of the mythical Kappa creature painted by 154 cartoonists at the “Efude Zuka” in the shrine.