Sugawara no Michizane

Sugawara no Michizane (August 1, 845 – March 26, 903) was a scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian Period. He is revered in Shinto as the god of learning and thunder, Tenman-Tenjin (or just Tenjin). A scholar and bureaucrat, Sugawara no Michizane rose unsuitably high for a man of his birth; however, his fame rests on what happened after he died.

He was born into a family of scholars, who bore the hereditary title of Ason. His grandfather, Sugawara no Kiyotomo, and his father, Sugawara no Koreyoshi, served the court as experts on Chinese studies. His family began a private school and taught students who were preparing for the entrance examination to the national school or who had ambitions to be officers of the court, including Michizane. Michizane himself was quite precocious, able to compose Chinese poems at ten and eventually became an expert. Later, in addition to his offices at the court, he ran the family school. He was also promoted to professor of literature and was also appointed Doctorate of Literature (monjō hakushi) the highest professorial office at Daigaku, the national university. This office was considered to be the highest honor a historian could achieve.

Michizane started out as a minor official in the Court bureaucracy under the Ministry of Civil Affairs. By 874, he had achieved the fifth rank and served in the Ministry of War then to the Ministry of Popular Affairs. His training in the Chinese written language and literature gave him the opportunity to draft edicts and correspondence for court officials and to assist with receiving emissaries from Kingdom of Balhae, located northwest of the Korean peninsula. In 877 he went to the Ministry of the Ceremonial where he dealt with intellectual and educational matters.

In 886, as with many bureaucrats in the Court without sufficient social standing, he was assigned the governorship of a remote province. While not attending to his official duties, he wrote poetry.

Michizane’s life changed forever upon the ascension of Emperor Uda (866 –931) in 887. Michizane’s reputation for scholarship and astute advice brought him to the attention of Emperor Uda. Though Uda’s patronage, Michizane rose far beyond the rank normally permitted a man from a scholarly family. In 893 he became a court councilor. In 895 his daughter became one of Uda’s consorts.

His relationship with Emperor Uda started with the Akō Incident (akō jiken) in 888.  Emperor Uda and Fujiwara no Mototsune had a dispute over Mototsune’s role after Uda’s ascension to the throne. Michizane wrote a letter of censure to Mototsune defending court scholars backing Emperor Uda.

Emperor Uda was attempting to restore imperial power from the Fujiwara and was appointing officials from non-Fujiwara families, like Michizane. Emperor Uda favored Michizane and relied upon him in matters pertaining to China, even accepting his advice to stop sending ambassadors to China. Michizane was promoted very rapidly, until 897 when he rose to the Senior Third Rank. But while Michizane was advancing, so was Fujiwara Mototsune’s son and heir, Fujiwara Tokihira; the Fujiwara were just biding their time.

In 897, Uda abdicated but continued to rule through his son, Prince Atsuhito (Emperor Daigo). Uda left his son’s guidance under the care of both Fujiwara Tokihira and Sugawara Michizane

In 898, Uda’s son Tokiyo married one of Michizane’s daughters, a status customarily given to the Fujiwara. In 899, Michizane became Minister of the Right, then Junior Second Rank, marking him as the emperor’s favorite, and jealously reared its ugly head.

Though Michizane had risen extremely high, in 899 Emperor Uda appointed Tokihira Sadaijin (Minister of the Left), the most powerful office of all. Michizane was second as Minister of the Right. Michizane’s high position did not guarantee safety.

Soon after the Daigo’s enthronement, Tokihira assembled a group of malcontents to get rid of Michizane which included Fujiwara no Kiyotsura, Minamoto no Hikaru (a son of Emperor Ninmyo), Fujiwara no Sadakuni, and Fujiwara no Sugane. Michizane had risen far above what his family pedigree could warrant and Tokihira played on their jealously and discontent with the favoritism Uda showed Michizane.

In 901 Tokihira found a man to accuse Michizane of plotting with Uda to force Daigo to abdicate and place Prince Tokiyo on the throne.  Although Daigo was old enough to be emperor, he still was young enough to be gullible. He believed the accusations brought by Tokihira and Minamoto no Hikaru. Daigo denounced Michizane’s crime, stripped Michizane of rank and titles, and banished him to Kyushu as a supernumerary official at Dazaifu and made Tokiyo a monk.

Sending Michizane to Kyushu amounted to exile.  Before leaving Kyoto, he sent his Chinese poems to a friend. Intent on preventing Michizane’s exile, Ex-emperor Toba tried to force his way into the palace but Minamoto no Sugane prevented him. The Ex-emperor sat in the grass and waited until the end of the day without avail. That same day, Minamoto no Hikaru was appointed Minister of the Right and took over Michizane’s post.

Michizane was separated from his large family who all became impoverished. Michizane died in 903 after suffering numerous privations, a broken-hearted man. Legend has it that Michizane died in exile of grief, at having to leave his beloved plum trees and his cultivated friends for the wilds of Kyushu. Michizane maintained his innocence until the day he died.

Michizane had an exceptional talent in poetry both for kanshi (poetry in Chinese) and waka (poetry in Japanese). His primary interest was kanshi. He compiled his Chinese poems in Kanke Bunsō (“Chinese poetry by Sugawara no Michizane”). After his exile he continued to work on kanshi and compiled them into another anthology.One of his famous waka was written in 901 just before he left Kyoto for exile. He felt deep sorrow that he would never see his precious plum tree in his residence in Kyoto again, loosely translated: When the east wind blows, flourish in full bloom, you, plum blossoms! Even though you lose your master, don’t be oblivious to spring.

The Japanese believed that one who died prematurely in unnatural circumstances, a victim, would take his office, power, or anything he was entitled to into the afterlife. The power the victim had could be used to exact revenge and perpetrate evil upon his enemies and country from the afterlife. They are called “vengeful deities.” Naturally, the more powerful the victim was during life, the more powerful could be the revenge.

After Michizane’s death there was a series droughts, severe rain and thunderstorms, earthquakes, and typhoons. Droughts and prolonged periods of extremely heavy rains, violent thunderstorms, and typhoons caused flooding in Kyoto disrupting life and the food supply. The thunderstorms were particularly bad. Lightning caused a fire that destroyed 617 houses and struck the pagoda of Saidai-ji Temple. The Emperor’s palace was struck several times by lightning. Earthquakes in 916 and 917 were followed by famine. These natural catastrophes naturally brought on disease. There were severe epidemics on an almost yearly basis from 908 to 927.

To those who followed omens there was a series of lunar and solar eclipses.

Many believed these disasters were caused by Michizane’s wrathful ghost, reeking revenge on those who had cut short his career and his life. The most damning evidence to these beliefs was the deaths of the guilty.

Of the conspirators, Fujiwara no Sadakuni died in 906 and Fujiwara no Sugane, in 907. In 908, Tokihira became very ill.  During his illness, ten monks came to offer prayers but they were afraid of the evil spirit haunting Tokihira. It was reported that Michizane’s spirit came out of Tokihira’s ears as a blue dragon. Tokihira died at the age of 39. In 912 Minamoto no Hikaru died during a hunting trip when his horse took off, dragging him through the mud. His body was never found.

When the Crown Prince Yasuakira died 923, the populace claimed he was possessed by Michizane’s spirit. In an attempt to appease Michizane’s spirit, Michizane was posthumously restored to Minister of the Right, Second Rank and the documents concerning his banishment were burned.

In 925 Tokihira’s daughter’s son Crown Prince Yasuyori died at age 5.

There was a special notice of impending doom given to Fujiwara no Kiyotsura ― a hawk dropped a dead mouse on his head. One clear day, all of a sudden a dark cloud came from Mt. Atago that blackened the sky. A great thunderstorm arose and lightning struck the Emperor’s palace. A wall of the seiryoden (the Emperor’s private area) caught fire setting Dainagon Fujiwara no Kiyotsura’s clothing on fire; his breast split, and he died instantly. Uchuben Taira no Mareyo suffered burns to his face. Hyoe-no-Suke Mibu Tadakane’s hair caught fire and he died. Ki no Kagetsura’s stomach split open and he lost consciousness. Azumi Munehito’s knees sustained burns and he could no longer get up.

In 930, Emperor Daigo became very ill and died. Also in 930, a lightning bolt killed the man who had accused Michizane of treason.

Michizane revealed himself through a shaman, saying he turned into a god of thunder. Michizane demanded that a shrine be built to transform him from a vengeful spirit to the protector of the nation. Sugawara no Michizane was deified as Tenjin-samma (a spirit of the sky who could direct lightening), and enshrined as the God of Learning Literature and Calligraphy and was given the title of Heavenly Deity. Kitano Tenman-gū was built to appease his spirit in Kyoto. Today many Shinto shrines in Japan are dedicated to him and school children offer prayers to him to help them pass exams.

Ironically, it was Tokihira’s brother, Fujiwara no Tadahira (880-949), who restored Michizane’s reputation. Tadahira had many conflicts with his brother, Tokihira, and felt kindly toward Michizane. He benefited from Tokihira’s early demise and became the Minister of the Left. Under his watch, the histories of the period represented the calamities as engendered by Sugawara no Michizane’s vengeful spirit. Okagami (Great Mirror), a collection of stories about Michizane, attributed Tokihira’s line dying out to Michizane’s vengeful spirit. Fujiwara no Tadahira and his descendants began the process of placating Michizane’s vengeful spirit and turning it into a protector of the country. In 919, Tadahira rebuilt the Anraku-ji at the Dazaifu and Tadahira’s son Morosuke (908-60) sponsored building the celebrated Kitano Shrine in Kyoto.