Yushima Tenmangu Shrine

Yushima Tenmangu stands on a rise in Yushima, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, and is affectionately known as Yushima Tenjin. It enshrines Sugawara no Michizane, the deity of learning, together with Ame-no-tajikarao-no-mikoto, and during exam season many students come to pray for success.

According to tradition, the shrine was founded in 458 under Emperor Yuryaku. In 1355 local people enshrined Michizane here. In the Edo period it received the shogunate's protection and became a center of Tenjin worship in the city. Until the separation of Shinto and Buddhism in the Meiji era it was administered by Kan'ei-ji temple in Ueno. Today it is a Bekkyo shrine under the Association of Shinto Shrines, and the main hall was rebuilt in 1995.

The shrine's best-known feature is its plum trees. It has been a plum viewing spot since the Edo period, and a plum festival is usually held from early February to early March. You can climb the stone steps (Otoko-zaka, Onna-zaka and Meoto-zaka) or take a gentle slope from a large torii on Kasuga-dori, which suits strollers and wheelchairs. The treasure hall holds special exhibitions at times, and the shrine appears in Izumi Kyoka's novel Onna Keizu. The gates are open from 6:00 to 20:00, so it is easy to drop by after work. The annual festival is held on May 25. Allow 30 minutes to an hour. Kanda Myojin is about 640 m away, Ueno Zoo about 1 km and the National Museum of Western Art about 1.1 km.