The Sugawara Minister climbed Mount Hiei and bid a tearful farewell to his teacher Hōshōbō before travelling by sea into exile in the Dazai-fu. His servants were murdered by Tokihira after seeing their master off. The Sugawara Minister bemoaned his lonely exile in poetry, but then the miracle of the tobi-ume occured, and when he prayed to Bonten and Taishaku proclaiming his innocence, with a crack of lightning a slip of paper fell from the sky proclaiming Namu taisei itoku tenman dai-jizai tenjin (南無大聖威徳天満大自在天神), and he passed away.