Source: Daizaifu Tenmangu kojitsu by Kaibara Eikken (1685 edition); artist unknown.

There are two stories about Michizane's death. In the version pictured above, after Michizane died and his body was being taken to the burial ground, suddenly the ox pulling the cart refused to go any farther. Since it would not budge, Michizane was buried there, and this became the site of the Tenjin Shrine in Kyushu.

In a later version of his death, Michizane composed a prayer protesting his innocence and then climbed Mount Tenpai (Revere Heaven) in Kyushu. He spent seven days beseeching the gods to acknowledge his honesty and virtue. After seven days his prayer floated up to heaven and he was transformed into Tenjin. In the Bunraku puppet play, Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy, Michizane then flies off to the capital to seek his revenge.

In fact, Michizane probably died of beriberi caused by malnutrition, or perhaps from stomach cancer.