Around 100 shops are on Tenjin-sama Street, main street to Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, selling traditional Japanese goods such as clothes, bags, ornaments, toys and accessories, as well as some Japanese foods and drinks such as rice cakes, pickled plum and plum wine. Many restaurants serve Japanese cuisine.
Dazaifu specialty
Umegae-mochi
Umegae-mochi is a toasted rice cake with sweet red bean paste inside. It is stamped with the plum blossom pattern that is the symbol of Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine.
The origin of Umegae-mochi
Sugawara Michizane was exiled from Kyoto and spending a miserable life in Dazaifu. Out of pity for his circumstance, an old lady who lived nearby gave him a rice cake decorated with a plum tree twig to cheer him up.
Folk craft Kiuso
Kiuso is a wooden hand-carved craft. It represents that a bullfinch perches on a tree and spreads its wings. People believe that the bullfinch is a messenger of a god and brings good luck.
Dazaifu Kenjo salt(sea salt)
Sea salt is used for purification and driving away evil. Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine uses Dazaifu Kenjo salt for all events and ceremonies.
