Northern

Kitano Tenmangu Shrine Treasure House

Highlight
The treasure hall seems like an armory of old, as many samurais dedicated armor and blades to the deity of scholarship and martial arts

Gifts from admirers of the deified spirit

Kitano Tenjin-san, or the deified spirit of Sugawara Michizane (845~903), a Heian scholar and politician, is synonymous with Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, the head shrine of the Tenjin religion, with Tenman-gu shrines nationwide worshiping the Tenjin spirit, which stands for scholarship. The present main shrine is a National Treasure that was built by Hideyoshi’s son Hideyori Toyotomi (1593~1615) and passes on the gorgeous delights of Momoyama culture to us, today.
Widely believed in by many - including the Imperial family, nobles and merchants - the shrine and its deified spirit of the scholarly and war-versed Michizane were held in great esteem by samurais, who, in turn, presented the shrine with many treasures, such as swords, suits of armor, stone lanterns and votive pictures of horses. And, now, some 70 to 80 of these heirlooms are exhibited on a rotation basis during each of the four seasons in the shrine’s treasure hall. Notable artworks include the illustrated hand scroll of the history of Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine and the life of Michizane Sugawara (National Treasure), the oldest chronicles of Japan Nihon-shoki (Important Cultural Property) and Onigirimaru (the ogre slayer) sword.

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Question

Kitano Tenman-gu is famous for which deified spirit?

Address Bakuro-cho, Kamigyo-ku
TEL 075-461-0005
FAX 075-461-6556
URL http://kitanotenmangu.or.jp/
Hours 9:00~16:00 (entry by 15:30) on 25th of each month, 1/1, Mid Apr~mid May (new verdure season), Early Nov~early Dec, 1/12, Early Feb~end of Mar (ume tree viewing season)
Closed Open daily during open seasons
Adm Adults ¥500, Junior high and high school students ¥300, Elementary school students ¥250
Access A 6-min walk from Randen Kitano-Hakubaicho Stn/Very close to Kitano-Tenmangu-mae Stop of City Bus/A 4-min walk from Kamishichiken Stop of City Bus
Parking Available (Free)

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