Fukura Tenmangu

Fukura Tenmangu is a shrine in Usuki City, Oita Prefecture, dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, the deity of learning and scholarship. It is said to have been founded around 1590 (Tensho era), when it was enshrined here from Ohatake in Suo Province. In 1602, Inaba Norimichi, lord of Usuki Castle, prayed to the deity to find his lost hawk during a hunting excursion; when the hawk returned to a pine tree on Fukura Hill, a grateful Norimichi built a shrine hall on the current site, naming it "Kotakaden" (Hall of the Calling Hawk). Following the Meiji government's separation of Buddhism and Shinto in 1868, it was renamed Tenman Shrine, and the current main hall was constructed in 1895. Later renamed Fukura Tenmangu, it continues to welcome visitors praying for academic success and passing examinations.