Hofu Tenmangu is one of three major Tenmangu in Japan, beside Kyoto and Dazaifu. It is a highlight of Hofu sightseeing and absolutely worth visiting. The long passage to the shrine has a quaint atmosphere. The steps are a little bit hard to climb, but from the level of the main building, you can enjoy a nice view of the city. The surrounding area is also very pleasant like a park.

We heard this is an important shrine in Hofu so we planned for a trip. It is one of Japan’s leading Tenman-gu (shrines sacred to the God of Academic Learning) which ranked alongside the Dazaifu Tenman-gu in Dazaifu (we have visited twice already).. It is believed to be the oldest Tenman-gu in Japan. It is quite a long journey as we travelled from Hiroshima… The helpful staff at sta guided us well and 15 mins we were here at the entrance. Walked across the Shopping street/arcade which disappointingly mainly closed shops. We walked along the large stone steps that lead to Sakura-Mon. There are a couple of restaurants and shops at the front entrance to the shrine but again not opened yet, 10am.. It is off-cherry blossom but we still see some of them clingering on, plus lots of plum! Believed the shrine looks beautiful any time,. . I imagine the garden would be breath-taking in the fall when the leaves change Up at the main holden the premise is clean and serene. There are many types of fortune telling notes; you just put 100 yen into the box hole as there are no staff/attendant – self service. We bought some lucky charms for traffic-safety and house-blessing. We explore the area and found there’s even a plum blossom path garden There’s not much worshippers around, 10 the most and it’s closing to noon time on a Monday. We left after an hour or so having taking lots of beautiful pic. In my opinion, the Shrine deserves more!