Tenjin faith

After the death of Sugawara no Michizane, a nobleman, politician and scholar in the Heian period, his spirit was worshipped as Tenman Tenjin and the faith spread, and to this day he is familiarly known as "Tenjin-sama" mainly at the 10,000 or so Tenmangu shrines across the country. In 903 (Engi 3), Michizane died in Dazaifu, Tsukushi Province (Dazaifu City, Fukuoka Prefecture) where he was exiled, but Kyoto was hit by a series of natural disasters such as lightning strikes, and the Fujiwara clan members also died suddenly, and people feared that this was due to Michizane's vengeful spirit. This was linked to the belief in vengeful spirits and dead spirits, which had a strong social influence at the time, and Michizane's spirit was perceived as the god of thunder, the god of plague and Tenman Tenjin. Tenmangu was a vengeful deity of the Bonten Taishaku lineage who led his followers throughout the land and caused great disasters. A shrine was built at his grave in Dazaifu two years after his death, and Tenmangu Shrine was founded in Kitano, on the northern outskirts of Kyoto. This was where agricultural rituals based on the belief in Tenjin and Raijin, who are closely related to agricultural life, had been held even before that, and it is thought that Tenmangu Shrine became linked to these. This laid the foundation for the later development of Tenjin worship not only in cities but also in rural areas. From the Kamakura period onwards, new developments were made in both social and personal faith. Due to the reverence for the tutelary deity of the Confucian Sugawara clan and his learning and virtue, belief in his miraculous powers as the guardian deity of literature, learning, and calligraphy spread among Confucian scholars and men of letters, and in the Muromachi period, Chinese-style ideas were added to him, particularly among the Gozan Zen monks, as he was known as Tenjin who traveled to China, and the connection between Sugawara no Michizane and plum blossoms also originates from this. In the Edo period, with the spread of terakoya education, his deity spread to the children of common people as a god of learning. Tenjinko lectures were held by children on February 25th, the anniversary of his death, and on the 25th of each month. In terms of individual worship, picture scrolls of Tenjin Engi became popular after the Kamakura period, and he came to be seen as a god who clears false charges, and also strengthened moral views as a god of honesty and virtue. Furthermore, the Edo period joruri works "Tenjinki" (written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon) and "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami" (written by Takeda Izumo and others) were also deeply influential in spreading Tenjin faith as they are biographies of Michizane.

[Mure Hitoshi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

平安時代の公卿(くぎょう)・政治家・学者であった菅原道真(すがわらのみちざね)の死後、その霊は天満(てんまん)天神として崇(あが)められて信仰が広まり、現在に至るまで全国で1万数千社の天満宮を中心に、「天神さま」として親しまれてきた。903年（延喜3）道真は流罪となった筑紫(つくし)国大宰府(だざいふ)（福岡県太宰府市）にて没したが、京都では落雷などの天災が相次ぎ、また藤原氏一族の変死が重なり、世人はこれを道真の怨霊(おんりょう)によるものと畏怖(いふ)した。当時、社会的に強い影響のあった怨霊・御霊(ごりょう)信仰と結び付き、道真の霊は雷神、疫神(えきしん)、そして天満天神と観念された。天満天神とは眷属(けんぞく)を率いて国土に遍満し、大災害をなす梵天帝釈(ぼんてんたいしゃく)系統の怨霊神であった。大宰府には没後2年墓所に廟社(びょうしゃ)が建てられたが、京都北郊の北野の地には天満宮が創建された。ここはそれ以前より農耕生活とかかわり深い天神・雷神信仰による農耕祭祀(さいし)が行われ、これと結び付いたと考えられる。ここに、後世、天神信仰が都市のみならず地方農村へも発展していった素地があったといえる。鎌倉時代以降に入ると社会的信仰と個人的信仰の両面で新たな展開がなされた。儒家菅原家の氏神(うじがみ)・学徳への追慕から、儒学者・文人の間では文道・学問・書の守り神としての霊験(れいげん)が広まり、室町時代にはとくに五山禅僧の間に渡唐天神として中国風の思想も加え、菅公(かんこう)と梅との結び付きもここに由来する。江戸時代には寺子屋教育の普及とともに学問の神として庶民の子弟にまで広まった。命日の2月25日、月々の25日には子供たちによる天神講が行われた。個人信仰の面では、鎌倉期以降、天神縁起(えんぎ)の絵巻物が流布し、冤罪(えんざい)をはらす神、また加えて正直の徳ある神として道徳観を強めることとなった。なお江戸時代の浄瑠璃(じょうるり)の『天神記』（近松門左衛門作）、『菅原伝授手習鑑(すがわらでんじゅてならいかがみ)』（竹田出雲(いずも)ら作）も道真の一代記として、天神信仰の普及に影響が深かった。

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