Michizane Is Removed from Office and Sent to Dazaifu

Sugawara no Michizane, a scholar and Minister of the Right, lost his court office in 901 after accusations that he had plotted against Emperor Daigo's succession. He had risen under the patronage of the former Emperor Uda, while Fujiwara no Tokihira held the office of Minister of the Left under Daigo.

Michizane was appointed provisional head of Dazaifu in Kyushu, but the transfer functioned as punishment rather than a normal assignment with governing powers. Michizane had lost the central office through which he had served the emperor. The accusation supplied the government’s stated reason for his removal; the later Tenjin tradition describes it as a false charge.

He died at Dazaifu in 903 without recovering his central office. Later rehabilitation and Tenjin worship belong to the subsequent history of his memory. The charge explains the government's stated grounds for acting; it does not, by itself, prove that the alleged conspiracy occurred as accused.