Yamada Tenmangu

Yamada Tenmangu is located in Yamada-cho, Kita Ward, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture. 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). After his death, calamities, plagues, and lightning strikes followed, leading to his deification as Tenman Daijizai Tenjin. Shrine tradition records the founding in Kanbun 12 (1672) by Tokugawa Mitsutomo, second lord of the Owari domain, who invited the deity here as a protective shrine for the northern outskirts of Nagoya Castle. The honsha (head shrine) lineage traces to Dazaifu Tenmangu in Fukuoka (Michizane's tomb) and Kitano Tenmangu in Kyoto (first to enshrine his spirit). An auxiliary Kogane Shrine within the precinct enshrines Kanayamahiko and Kanayamahime, the deities of metals and mines, giving Yamada Tenmangu an additional reputation for prayers concerning prosperity. Ranked as a village shrine in the Meiji era.