Osaka Tenmangu Shrine

This guide to Osaka Tenmangu Shrine traces the fall of Sugawara no Michizane, a scholar and imperial minister exiled by rival courtiers in 901 and dead within two years, still writing poetry. It follows the lightning, plague and drought that struck the capital afterward, and the frightened priests who decided only one explanation fit. A sacred spear, floated down the river to find this shrine's site, began a ritual still echoed every July.