Yaho Tenmangu

Yaho Tenmangu is located in Yaho, Kunitachi City, Tokyo. The principal deity is Sugawara-no-Michizane (845-903), a Heian-period scholar and right minister exiled to Dazaifu through the slander of Fujiwara-no-Tokihira, who died there in Engi 3 (903 CE). Sugawara-no-Michitake (Michizane's third son) is enshrined alongside him. Shrine tradition records that Michitake, exiled to Yaho in Musashi province in the same political incident, founded the shrine in Engi 3 (903 CE) to memorialize his father. It is counted among the three great Tenjin shrines of the Kanto region together with Kameido Tenjin and Yushima Tenmangu. The shrine received the patronage of Minamoto-no-Yoritomo in the Kamakura period and was ranked as a prefectural shrine in the Meiji era. The main hall (Tokyo Metropolitan Tangible Cultural Property) was built in the Kanei era (1624-1644). In 1908, Emperor Meiji visited during imperial maneuvers; in the same year a noble motorcar excursion stopped here, recognized as Japan's first automobile drive, leading to the shrine's modern association with traffic safety.