February 12, 2011

Ushi Tenjin


Tenjin shrines are Shinto shrine dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane who was great scholar, poet, and politician.
In Tokyo, Kameido Tenjin and Yushima Tenjin are very famous as Tenjin shrine.
But, today I introduce you Ushi Tenjin located in Kasuga Bunkyo ward.
Formal name of the shrine is Kitano Jinja.



This shrine is small, but it has long history.
They say that the shrine was established by Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199) who was great Samurai and the first Shogun of Kamakura shogunate.
When Yoritomo stopped at the place on his way to north to fight, Michizane appeared riding on a bull in his dream.
("ushi" means bull or cow).



When I visited there, ume blossoms in the shrine had already started to blooming.
Michizane loved ume blossoms.




(Note)
These photos were taken on February 7, 2011.

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This post is linked to Show me Japan , a weekend meme by Anna.
You can see many nice photos of Japan from there.
Please take a look!!
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6 comments:

Yoshi said...

The flowering of Japanese apricot (ume) is really a sign of spring coming, although we are having a snowfall for the past few days...
My favorite is the first photo:)
Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful weekend.
Yoshi

Malyss said...

I like the contrast between the srng bull and the frail ume flowers! and like always, it's strange to discover that this place that seems to be the country is in fact in the middle of the big city of Tokyo!

2cats said...

Blossoms! That means that spring is just around the corner! :-)

Leif Hagen said...

Such wonderful photos of that beautiful temple!
Genki de ne!

sarah said...

It's so nice to see these gorgeous signs of spring!

cocomino said...

はじめまして。show me Japanからきました。
とてもよい写真を撮られてますね。
私も写真をたまにとって英語の勉強しながらブログ書いてます。。今後ともよろしくお願いいたします。

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