Tenjin (kami)

Tenjin
Academics, scholarship, learning
Ukiyo-e by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi depicting Sugawara no Michizane as the Tenjin (kami of thunder.). After Sugawara no Michizane's death, lightning struck the palace, killing and injuring many of the powerful people involved in his banishment, and Sugawara no Michizane was enshrined in the Tenmangū (Shinto shrines) as the Tenjin.
Other namesTenjinsama
Sugawara no Michizane
AffiliationShinto
AnimalsBull
Age58 (845 - 903 AD)
TreeUme
GenderMale
RegionFukuoka
Ethnic groupJapanese

In the Shinto religion of Japan, Tenjin (天神), also called Tenman Daijizai Tenjin (天満大自在天神), is the patron kami (deity) of academics, scholarship, of learning, and of the intelligentsia.

Tenjin is the deification of Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), the famous scholar, poet and politician of the Heian period.

Ten () means sky or heaven, and jin () means god or deity. The original meaning of Tenjin, sky deity, is almost the same as that of Raijin (a god of thunder).