, is a

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

. Having been founded according to legend by an unknown priest in 1104, it is one of the few extant religious institutions in the area to predate the advent of

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

, who arrived here in 1181. Like all other Tenjin shrines in Japan, it enshrines the spirit of famous scholar and politician

Sugawara no Michizane was a scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian Period of Japan. He is regarded as an excellent poet, particularly in Kanshi poetry, and is today revered in Shinto as the god of learning, . In the poem anthology ''Hyakunin Isshu'', he is known ...

under the name Tenjin. For this reason, the ''

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

'' is believed to be a protector of intellectual pursuits. Having been unjustly sent into exile, where he died, Michizane was deified and enshrined to pacify his soul, which was believed to be angry as a consequence. Numerous calamities that followed his death validated this belief. The shrine, described as "in bad shape" a century ago by

Iso Mutsu Countess , born Gertrude Ethel Passingham, was a British writer. She married a Japanese nobleman and diplomat, came with him to Japan in 1910 and lived in Kamakura until her death in 1930.The Japan TimesKamakura: Fact and Legend In 1918 she wrote ...

,Iso Mutsu.
Kamakura: Fact and Legend
, Tuttle Publishing (1995/06) has been completely rebuilt and consists of an oratory (''

haiden Haiden may refer to: *A Gewürztraminer wine * Haiden (Shinto), the hall of worship of a Shinto shrine See also * Heiden (disambiguation) {{disambig ...

'') and of a sacrarium (''

honden In Shinto shrine architecture, the , also called , or sometimes as in Ise Shrine's case, is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined ''kami'', usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a sta ...

''). Both are painted in the traditional Shinto vermilion color.

References

{{Authority control Shinto shrines in Kanagawa Prefecture Buildings and structures in Kamakura, Kanagawa Tenjin faith