Shinjo Tenmangu enshrines Sugawara no Michizane, the scholar-statesman who rose to Minister of the Right before being exiled to Dazaifu, where he died in 903. Revered across Japan at some 12,000 Tenmangu shrines as the deity of learning, his spirit is worshipped here too, guarding the academic endeavors of the Shinjo district in Aomori.