Sugawara Michizane

Sugawara Michizane was a brilliant scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian period of Japan. He is regarded as an excellent poet, particularly in waka and kanshi poetry, and is today revered in Shinto as the god of learning, Tenman-Tenjin. He was born into a family of scholars, who bore the hereditary title of Ason, which predated the Ritsuryō system and its ranking of members of the court. His grandfather, Sugawara no Kiyotomo, served the court, teaching history in the national school for future bureaucrats and even attained the third rank. His father, Sugawara no Koreyoshi, began a private school in his mansion and taught students who prepared for the entrance examination to the national school or who had ambitions to be officers of the court, including his own son Michizane. Michizane passed the entrance examination, and entered Daigaku, as the national academy was called at the time. After graduation he began his career in the court as a scholar as a relatively prestigious senior sixth rank upper in 870. His rank coincided with his role initially as a minor official in the court bureaucracy under the Ministry of Civil Affairs. By 874 Michizane had reached the fifth rank (his father the fourth rank), and served briefly under the Ministry of War before being transferred to a more desirable role in the Ministry of Popular Affairs. His training and skill with Classical Chinese language and literature afforded him many opportunities to draft edicts and correspondences for officials in the court in addition to his menial duties. Records show at this time he composed three petitions for Fujiwara no Yoshifusa as well as the Emperor. Michizane also took part in receiving delegations from the Kingdom of Parhae, where Michizane's skill with Chinese again proved useful in diplomatic exchanges and poetry exchange. In 877, he was assigned to the Ministry of the Ceremonial, which allowed him to manage educational and intellectual matters more than before. In addition to his offices at the court he ran the school his father founded, the Kanke Rōka. In 877, he was also promoted to professor of literature at the academy. Later, he was also appointed Doctorate of Literature, the highest professorial office at Daigaku. This office was considered to be the highest honor a historian could achieve. In 886, Sugawara was appointed to be governor of Sanuki Province. Modern research shows that many bureaucrats in the court, if they lacked sufficient clout, were assigned at least one term in a remote province, and Michizane was no exception. He returned to the capital in 890 and was appointed to the Ministry of the Ceremonial. In 894, when the Emperor Uda decided to resume the embassies to China, Michizane was the only one who opposed the plan. The Emperor, who highly respected Michizane for his wide knowledge, appointed him to be a tutor of Imperial Prince Atsuhito, the crown prince and later Emperor Daigo. In 897, Michizane became the Minister of the Right, the second highest rank for a courtier. However, in 901, due to the political plot by his rival, Fujiwara no Tokihira, Michizane was demoted and exiled to Dazaifu, a remote place in Kyushu. He died there in 903, at the age of 58. After his death, several calamities were attributed to his angry spirit, such as lightning striking the Imperial palace and the death of his enemies. The court, terrified by these events, revoked the charges against Michizane and restored his office and titles. In order to appease his spirit, the court also built a Shinto shrine dedicated to him, called Kitano Tenman-gū, in Kyoto. Many other shrines, called Tenman-gū, were later established throughout Japan. Michizane came to be worshipped as Tenjin, the god of learning, literature, and calligraphy. Many students visit his shrines to pray for success in their studies, especially before exams. Michizane is also remembered as one of the greatest poets in Japanese history. He wrote both waka and kanshi poems, expressing his love for nature, his political views, and his personal feelings. Some of his poems are included in the imperial anthologies of waka, such as Kokin Wakashū and Hyakunin Isshu. He also wrote a poetic diary, called Kanshi Nikki, while he was in exile. His poems are admired for their elegance, grace, and sincerity.