Kiryu Tenmangu Shrine

Kiryu Tenmangu, located in Tenjin-cho, Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture, is the chief tutelary shrine of the Kiryu textile town. The principal deity is Sugawara no Michizane, the Heian-period scholar-courtier demoted to Dazaifu in 901, who is the founding spirit of all Tenmangu shrines branched from Dazaifu Tenmangu and Kitano Tenmangu. According to tradition, the Isobe clan first enshrined Iwatsutsuo-no-Mikoto and Iwatsutsume-no-Mikoto at this site during the reign of Keiko Tenno; another account dates the founding to the Daido era (806-810). In 1396, Kiryu Tsunamoto invited Sugawara no Michizane from Dazaifu Tenmangu and reorganized the shrine as a Tenmangu. During the Edo period it functioned as a tutelary of the Kiryu silk and textile market. The annual rite in April features an antique market continuing the legacy of the Kiryu textile market.