Fukushima-Temmangu Shrine

Fukushima Tenmangu Shrine enshrines Sugawara no Michizane as its deity. It is conveniently located about a 2–4 minute walk from JR Fukushima Station and Hanshin Fukushima Station. Michizane is widely known as the god of learning. Although his exceptional talent allowed him to rise to the position of Right Minister, he was demoted by Fujiwara no Tokihira and exiled to serve as a governor in Dazaifu, Kyushu. According to the shrine’s tradition, when Michizane traveled from Kyoto and reached what is now Fukushima, a local man named Tokujirō warmly and sincerely hosted him. Pleased by this, Michizane is said to have painted his own likeness on cloth, and this image is still enshrined today as the shrine’s sacred object. Two years later, after hearing of Michizane’s death, local people established a small shrine here—marking the beginning of Fukushima Tenmangu. It is also the 12th site in the “Sugakō Seiseki Nijūgo Hai,” a pilgrimage visiting 25 shrines deeply connected to Sugawara no Michizane along his route from Kyoto to Kyushu. Every year in July, around the anniversary of his death, the Tenjin Festival is held over two days, featuring danjiri floats, lion dances, portable shrine processions, and more.