Dazaifuten Shrine

This shrine honors Sugawara no Michizane, a 9th-century scholar now revered as the deity of learning and the subject of countless student prayers. The present building dates to 1864 and was carved by master craftsmen Ozawa Hanbei and his adopted son Fukuda Toshihide, whose intricate style appears on many shrines across Japan. Here you will find dragons amid clouds across the front, cranes, chickens, rabbits, and tigers along the sides, and two large scenes from classical Chinese literature carved in the rear that reportedly took several years to complete. The craftsmanship here is considered among the pair's finest surviving work.