[1] The shrine was first built in 947 to appease the angry spirit of bureaucrat, scholar and poet Sugawara no Michizane, who had been exiled as a result of political maneuvers of his enemies in the Fujiwara clan.

[2][clarification needed] In 965, Emperor Murakami ordered that Imperial messengers be sent to report important events to the guardian kami of Japan.

[4][dubious – discuss] From 1871 through 1946, the Kitano Tenman-gū was officially designated one of the Kanpei-chūsha (官幣中社), meaning that it stood in the second rank of government supported shrines.

In that year, a big festival was held to mark the 1,050th anniversary of Michizane's death, based on the historic Kitano Ochakai tea ceremony hosted at the shrine by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Kitano Tenmangū is popular with students praying for success in exams because the deity was in his life a man of literature and knowledge.