Illuminated by traditional Japanese lanterns, the entrance to the Nishiki Tenmangu Shrine stands in striking contrast to its surroundings of the Shinkyogoku shopping street.
While this may seem like an odd place for a shrine, Nishiki Tenmangu’s roots date back over one thousand years.
In the year 1003, a temple called Kanki-ji was founded together with a shrine dedicated to the god of learning, Sugawara no Michizane, to protect it.
The temple and shrine were moved to the center of Kyoto as a part of the reconstruction of Kyoto by the daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi. However, while the temple was moved to Higashiyama during the Meiji era because of shinbutsu bunri – the separation of Shintoism and Buddhism – the shrine remained.
Separated from the temple which it was built to protect, that which remained standing was the Nishiki Tenmangu Shrine.
Despite the urbanization of Kyoto’s city center, the little shrine withstood the test of time and became a popular destination for people praying for luck in their studies.