Sugawara-jinja, A shrine located in Fujikawa, Togo-cho, Satsumasendai City, Kagoshima Prefecture. Also known as Fujikawa Tenjin.
Sugawara-jinja, also called Fujikawa Tenjin, stands in Tōgō-chō Fujikawa, Kagoshima Prefecture. Its grounds hold about 150 plum trees, more than fifty of them Garyūbai whose trunks crawl along the ground like a prostrate dragon. Beside the second torii is a mound said to be Sugawara no Michizane's grave, and the shrine of Gennō-jinja, merged here in 1910, stands next to the main hall.
The shrine was founded to honor Sugawara no Michizane, a scholar and poet of the 10th century who was exiled from the imperial court after becoming the target of political rivalry and died shortly after. After his death, people attributed a series of misfortunes to his spirit, and shrines were built across Japan to appease and honor him.
The shrine is dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, venerated as the god of learning after his death. Students often come here before exams to hang wooden wishing plaques called ema on wooden racks placed around the grounds.
The shrine is about 30 minutes by car from central Satsumasendai, via National Route 267 and Kagoshima Prefectural Route 46 (Akune-Tōgō line). The Garyūbai plum group, roughly 150 trees of which some 50 have trunks creeping along the ground, draws crowds when it flowers, so plan around that season. The grave mound said to be Michizane's stands beside the second torii and along the approach north of it.
The bronze statue of Saigō Takamori's dog Tsun stands near the shrine entrance, sculpted by Shinya Nakamura and unveiled in 1990. Tsun was a Satsuma dog from the Fujikawabaru area, traded to Saigō for one horse at this shrine; a version of the statue sits beside the Saigō figure in Ueno Park, Tokyo.
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