Osaka Tenmangu Shrine

大阪天満宮

Scholarship god at the head of the long arcade

Hours

Usually 9:00-17:00

Tickets

Free

Address

2-1-8 Tenjinbashi, Kita Ward

Students clutching exam tickets queue here to pray to Sugawara no Michizane, the god of learning. Tenjinbashisuji, Japan's longest shopping arcade, starts right at the gate, so you walk out of the shrine and into snack alleys. In late July the Tenjin Matsuri puts about a hundred boats on the river and fireworks overhead. On ordinary days it is relaxed: people rubbing the bull statues, a few charm stalls.