In Japanese religion, Tenjin is the deity associated with scholarship and formed from Sugawara no Michizane.
Sugawara no Michizane was a prominent Heian-period scholar, poet, and court official who died in exile in 903. After disasters struck Kyoto, people feared that his angry spirit was responsible. His posthumous deification transformed a feared onryō into the kami Tenjin.
Tenjin shrines are called Tenmangū or Tenjin shrines. Students commonly visit them before examinations, and plum blossoms are strongly associated with the deity because Michizane was famous for his love of plum trees.
Tenjin is not originally a separate ancient nature deity in the way many kami are. His development illustrates how an influential human, a dangerous spirit, and a pacified kami could become part of Japanese religious practice.