A monk walks toward stone steps leading to the Hofu Tenmangu Shrine in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)

A brightly painted shrine dedicated to an ancient Japanese academic stands near the southern end of Japan’s main island of Honshu.

Hofu Tenmangu, founded in the year 904, is the oldest of three large shrines in Japan dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, a scholar, poet and administrator who was banished from the imperial court at Kyushu amid jostling for power.

The shrine stands on a hill overlooking Hofu, a port city of 115,000 residents, about an hour and 15 minutes’ drive west of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture.

Followers believe that the ancient scholar became the god Tenjin after he died. People come to his shrines to pray for academic success.

Hofu Tenmangu Shrine, founded in the year 904, is the oldest of three large shrines in Japan dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, a scholar, poet and administrator who was banished from the imperial court at Kyushu. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)

Michizane, according to the Visit Hofu website, stayed in the city on his way into exile. When he died on the island of Kyushu in 903, a pillar of light reportedly shined into the sea and a mysterious cloud settled on the hill where the Hofu shrine stands.

There are 12,000 Tenjin shrines in Japan. The one in Hofu ranks alongside the Kitano Tenmangu in Kyoto and Dazaifu Tenmangu in Kyushu in importance, according to the website.

Before you climb a steep set of stone steps leading to the shrine above Hofu, consider a stop at the Hosho-an Teahouse to the right of the path leading to the steps.

The teahouse looks like the sort of place that ninjas might infiltrate in a Quentin Tarantino film and stands next to a pond full of giant koi carp and a garden where the leaves turn every shade of brown and red in autumn.

The entrance fee of 800 yen — about $5 — includes traditional matcha and sweets that, on the day Stars and Stripes visited, were shaped like autumn leaves.

Staff at the Hosho-an Teahouse will show you how to make your own matcha by whisking powder in a bowl of hot water. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)

The staff will show you how to correctly make your own matcha by stirring powder in a bowl of hot water with a whisk that looks a little like an old-school shaving brush.

Getting the matcha to froth up correctly requires vigorous whisking at about the same speed as a heavy metal guitarist playing a solo. If your wrist skills are deficient the staff will help you out.

Once you’re amped up on caffeine and sugar, you can bound up the stone steps to check out the carefully crafted shrine and, perhaps, throw a coin into a box and pray for a doctorate in astrophysics.

The shrine, which hosts festivals throughout the year, is surrounded by pleasant parkland and has a kind of pagoda next to it that you can enter and look out over Hofu and nearby hills.

On the QT

Directions: The shrine is at 14-1 Matsuzaki-cho, Hofu City, Yamaguchi prefecture

Times: Open daily, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The teahouse is open 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Costs: Shrine admission is free.

Food: Sweets are available at the teahouse.

Information: www.hofutenmangu.com