Kasuga Grand Shrine (768 AD onwards)     other sites in Nara

Nara, Japan

(This page is composed of still images captured from video.  Unlike other pages on this website, these images cannot be enlarged)
 

	Stone lamps on the path to the shrine
	Two stone lamps beside the path
	Tori-i gate to the shrine
	More lamps
	Smaller shrine on the path to the main compound
	Entrance to the main compound
	Outer court of the main compound
	More of the outer court
	Old juniper tree where a kami (deity) is said to reside
	Main hall of the inner court
	Lamps in the inner court
	Offerings at the main compound
	Tree growing into one of the side halls
	The same side hall
	Drum in the side hall
	Lamps hanging in a side court
	More lamps from the same spot
	Wooden lamp
	Old hall on the path down from the shrine
	Lamps beside the same hall
	Smaller shrine on the path down
	Thatched roof teahouse at the bottom of the hill

Kasuga Grand Shrine is a Shinto shrine that was built in 768 AD on a spot of land that had long considered hallowed by the gods.  The shrine was originally used only by members of the Fujiwara family and two of the four gods enshrined here are said to be the ancestral founders of the Fujiwara line.  These are Amenokoyan-no-mikoto and Himegami.  The other two gods were originally from the area around Tokyo and were moved here more recently.  These are Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto and Futsunushi-no-mikoto.

Kasuga Daisha was originally owned and run by the monks at nearby Kofukuji.  By the 16th century the temple’s fortunes had declined and at the time of the Meiji restoration the government mandated the separation of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

Bibliography

All images copyright 2002 Professor Kerk L. Phillips of Brigham Young University, Utah, USA.
Visit his webpage at www.pomosa.com

Click here to return home