Yushima Tenman-gū Shrine (湯島天満宮) is a Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

 shrine in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 devoted to Tenjin

Tenjin (kami)

In Japanese mythology and folklore, is the Shinto kami of scholarship, the deification of a scholar, poet, and politician named Sugawara no Michizane. Ten means sky and jin means god or deity...

, the Kami

Kami

is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...

 of Learning. It is located in the Bunkyo

Bunkyo, Tokyo

is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. Situated in the middle of the ward area, Bunkyō is a residential and educational center. Beginning in the Meiji period, literati like Natsume Sōseki, as well as scholars and politicians have lived there...

 ward of Tokyo, not far from the University of Tokyo

University of Tokyo

, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...

, and is a frequent site of prospective students hoping to pass the entrance exams there in April. At this time, the temple receives many offerings of ema

Ema (Shinto)

are small wooden plaques on which Shinto worshippers write their prayers or wishes. The ema are then left hanging up at the shrine, where the kami receive them. They bear various pictures, often of animals or other Shinto imagery, and many have the word gan'i , meaning "wish", written along the side...

votives to petition the kami for success at exams.

Built in the year 458 for another kami, of Japanese myth associated with strength and sports, the shrine was then expanded in 1355 to enshrine the kami Tenjin

Tenjin (kami)

In Japanese mythology and folklore, is the Shinto kami of scholarship, the deification of a scholar, poet, and politician named Sugawara no Michizane. Ten means sky and jin means god or deity...

 as well. Currently both kami are enshrined at this temple. The shrine was later rebuilt in 1455 at the behest of local warlord Ota Dokan

Ota Dokan

, also known as Ōta Sukenaga or Ōta Dōkan Sukenaga, was a Japanese samurai warrior-poet, military tactician and Buddhist monk. Ōta Sukenaga took the tonsure as a Buddhist priest in 1478, and he also adopted the Buddhist name, Dōkan, by which is known today...

, and enjoyed greater popularity during the Edo Period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 when it was visited by such Confucian scholars as Hayashi Doshun

Hayashi Razan

, also known as Hayashi Dōshun, was a Japanese Neo-Confucian philosopher, serving as a tutor and an advisor to the first four shoguns of the Tokugawa bakufu. He is also attributed with first listing the Three Views of Japan. Razan was the founder of the Hayashi clan of Confucian scholars.Razan was...

 and Arai Hakuseki

Arai Hakuseki

was a Confucianist, scholar-bureaucrat, academic, administrator, writer and politician in Japan during the middle of the Edo Period, who advised the Shogun Tokugawa Ienobu. His personal name was Kinmi or Kimiyoshi . Hakuseki was his pen name...

.

Due to Tenjin's frequent association with plum trees, Yushima Tenmangu maintains an extensive grove of plum trees, and holds a yearly festival called in February or March depending on when the trees bloom.

Gallery

File:Yushima tenmangu shrine.jpg|Main hall

Honden

The , is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined kami, usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a statue. The building is normally in the rear of the shrine and closed to the general public. In front of its usually stands the haiden, or...

File:Yushima tenmangu ema.jpg|Ema

Ema (Shinto)

are small wooden plaques on which Shinto worshippers write their prayers or wishes. The ema are then left hanging up at the shrine, where the kami receive them. They bear various pictures, often of animals or other Shinto imagery, and many have the word gan'i , meaning "wish", written along the side...

 offered at Yushima Tenmangu
File:Yushima tenmangu inari.jpg|Inari no Kami sub-shrine