Ushi-san, the cow statue

The legend says that during the funerals of Sugawara no Michizane, a famed scholar, poet and politician of the Heian Period, who is now revered as Kami Tenjin, god of learning, the cow pulling the carriage with the body suddenly stopped, refusing to go further. This was interpreted as a sign and the tomb was built on that very spot...

That's why in every shrine dedicated to Tenjin you will see a statue representing a cow lying down, wearing a red bib. Called Ushi-san ("Mr. Cow"), it is often shining because the visitors are always rubbing it as part of the praying ritual...