Sugawara no Michizane

Kanji: 菅原道真
Kana: すがわらのみちざね
Pronunciation: sugawara no michizane

TRANSLATION: "Sugawara of the true road" (a personal name)
ALTERNATE NAMES: Tenjin; Tenman Tenjin; Kan Shojo; Kankō
ORIGIN: Heian period history (845–903 CE); folklore in the Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki scrolls

HABITAT: Tenmangu shrines, Kyoto, the sky
DIET: Offerings, prayers

ABILITIES:

• Thunder and lightning attacks
• Storm and heavy rain control
• Plague bringing
• Targeted curses on rivals
• Protection of scholars and students

WEAKNESSES:

• Appeasement through posthumous honors
• Shrine dedication
• Formal deification as a state kami
• Sincere prayers

OVERVIEW: Sugawara no Michizane was a Heian scholar who lost his life in exile and returned as one of Japan's three great vengeful spirits. He is now considered Tenjin, the god of learning.

APPEARANCE: Sugawara no Michizane appears as a dignified court noble in formal sokutai robes. He holds a shaku, the wooden scepter of office that shows his rank. His face shows quiet sorrow in peaceful images and deep anger in onryō scenes. In vengeful form Michizane has dark thunderclouds and white lightning around him. Many paintings place a plum tree or a sacred ox at his side. The plum is his emblem because he loved the plum tree in his Kyoto garden.

BEHAVIOR: As an onryō Michizane attacked the people who caused his exile. He attacked the Seiryōden palace with lightning and brought plague and drought to Kyoto. The spirit also attacked his rival Fujiwara no Tokihira and the sons of Emperor Daigo one after another. As the kami Tenjin he now protects scholars and answers their requests for help.

INTERACTIONS: Heian courtiers feared Michizane so deeply that the emperor returned his rank and built Kitano Tenmangu shrine to calm him. Today students go to Tenmangu shrines across Japan to ask for success on entrance exams. They write their wishes on wooden ema plaques and leave them at the shrine. Late February plum festivals at Dazaifu Tenmangu and Kitano Tenmangu are held in his name when the blossoms open.

OTHER FORMS: In life Michizane was a Heian minister and one of the greatest poets of his age. After death he became an onryō of thunder and lightning who terrorized the imperial court. The court then made him into the kami Tenman Tenjin, a peaceful god of scholarship and calligraphy known across the country. A Buddhist form known as Karaitenjin shows him as a Zen monk who went in spirit to China to learn.