Kitano Tenmangū

Japan's god of study began as a ghost the capital feared. Sugawara no Michizane died in exile in 903; when deaths and lightning followed, the court's own chronicle blamed the dead man's rage, and in 947 this shrine was raised to calm him: the beginning of the worship of Tenjin, the divine name he was given. Today several hundred thousand wooden plaques hang here asking for help with an exam, among oxen that all lie down. Except one.