Kasuga Grand Shrine

Why the Kasuga Grand Shrine is special
Several thousand lanterns astonishingly adorn the buildings and pathways of this religious site in Nara, Japan.

Kasuga Grand Shrine tips & insights
Lanterns
The 3,000 lanterns come in two basic forms:

• Bronze
  They are the hanging variety and are arranged in neat, closely knit rows on buildings and corridors (see photo above).
  
• Stone
  They are freestanding, pedestal shaped and line pathways leading to the Kasuga Grand Shrine.

In olden days they were lit nightly. Nowadays, they glow only five days a year (during festivals on February 2, 3 and 4 - and August 14 and 15).
The lanterns were donated by many individual Shinto believers.

Patrons
Kasuga Grand Shrime was built and supported for hundreds of year by the super-powerful Fujiwara family. It was politically powerful and most of Japan's empresses came from the clan.

Construction
The Kasuga Grand Shrine dates from 768. For many centuries, a Shinto purification practice took place every 20 years: The temple was demolished and then rebuilt exactly like the previous one. The shrine built in 1863 still stands because the Shinto tearing down practice ended.

Location in Japan