Dazaifu Tenmangu welcomes all students to offer a special prayer to the enshrined deity of learning, Sugawara Michizane, during the month of October, the beginning of the second semester of Japan’s academic year. Throughout this particular prayer period, visitors can receive academic blessings in the form of special amulets, votive plaques, and ceremonies. On October 18, a special ceremony is held in the honden, or main sanctuary, to pray for the success of all who visit the shrine during the month-long prayer period. It is held on this date to celebrate the day Sugawara took, and passed, one of the most challenging exams that existed in his time.

Dazaifu Tenmangu is a sanctuary for learning. The honden stands on the burial site of Sugawara Michizane, Japan’s greatest and most influential scholar. He made significant contributions to Japanese society during his lifetime and was deified as Tenjin, the deity of learning, after his death in 903.