Yasui Shrine

Yasui Shrine (Yasui Jinja) is a historic shrine in Tennoji Ward, Osaka City, enshrining Sukuna-hikona-no-Kami and Sugawara no Michizane. Sukuna-hikona is revered as a deity of medicine, remedies, and incantations, while Sugawara no Michizane is known as a god of learning and culture. Tradition says that in 901, when Michizane was exiled to Dazaifu, he rested here on his way to visit his aunt at Domyoji Temple in Kawachi. Villagers offered him “okoshi-mai,” glutinous rice that had been steamed and dried, to comfort him. In gratitude, Michizane is said to have given them the “umebachi” crest of the Sugawara family—an emblem that later became associated with the trademark of Osaka’s famous “kuri-okoshi” sweets. After Michizane’s death, the villagers built the shrine in 942 to enshrine his spirit. It is also said that during the Summer Siege of Osaka in 1615, Sanada Yukimura was killed here. In the Edo period, the shrine was known as a cherry-blossom viewing spot and is depicted in an ukiyo-e print by Utagawa Hiroshige from around 1834, “Naniwa Meisho Zue: Flower Viewing at Yasui Tenjin-yama.”