Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), born to a family of court scholars, rose to right minister of state in 899 — a rare achievement for a non-Fujiwara. In 901 the left minister Fujiwara no Tokihira slandered him as plotting against Emperor Daigo, and Michizane was demoted overnight to nominal governor of Dazaifu in Kyushu. He died there two years later, having composed plaintive poems begging for return. After Tokihira’s sudden death and the Seiryoden lightning strike of 930, the court attributed the calamities to Michizane’s vengeful spirit, posthumously promoted him to chancellor, and built Kitano Tenmangu. Today some 12,000 Tenjin shrines including Dazaifu Tenmangu enshrine him as god of learning. The most influential case of Japanese onryo deification.