Tenjin (kami)
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In the Shinto religion of Japan, Tenjin, also called Tenman Daijizai Tenjin, is the patron kami of academics, scholarship, of learning, and of the intelligentsia.
Ukiyo-e by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi depicting Sugawara no Michizane as the Tenjin (kami of thunder). After Sugawara no Michizane's death, lightning struck the palace, killing and injuring many of the powerful people involved in his banishment, and Sugawara no Michizane was enshrined in the Tenmangū (Shinto shrines) as the Tenjin.
Painting by Kobayashi Eitaku depicting Sugawara no Michizane reborn as the Tenjin
The ume tree that in legend flew to Kyushu to be with Sugawara no Michizane
Lying Cow at Tenmangu Shrine (Suma Tsunashiki Tenmangu Shrine, Kobe City)
Sugawara no Michizane
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Sugawara no Michizane, or Kankō, was a scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian period of Japan. He is regarded as an excellent poet, particularly in waka and kanshi poetry, and is today revered in
Tenjin (kami)
…Daijizai Tenjin (天満大自在天神), is the patron kami (deity) of academics, scholarship, of learning, and of the intelligentsia. Tenjin is the deification of Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), the famous scholar, poet and politician of the Heian period. Ten (天) means sky or heaven, and jin (神) means god or deity…
Kanke, from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Sugawara Michizane in Exile by Kobayashi Kiyochika, 1884
Tenjin (Michizane) Crossing to China, late 15th century by Sesshin, Muromachi period, Ink on paper