Kasuga Grand Shrine, Nara

Kasuga Grand Shrine or Kasuga-taisha is an important Shinto Shrine in Nara, Japan. It is a popular tourist attraction specifically due to its thousands of lanterns, including stone ones that lead up to the shrine, and the bronze ones that hang at its many different buildings. The Kasuga Shrine and the surrounding Kasugayama Primeval Forest are part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, a World Heritage Site.

The Kasuga Grand Shrine was founded in the early part of the Heian period. In AD 965 it was one of the original 16 Shinto shrines were Imperial messengers had to send reports of important events to its resident guardian spirit, kami.

The Kasuga Grand Shrine takes on a festive mood during the Setsubun Mantoro (2-4 February) and Obon Mantoro (14-15 August) Festivals, when all the lanterns are lit. On 13 March, the shrine stages the Kasuga Matsuri or Monkey Festival, with gagaku and bugaku dance performances.

Lanterns at Kasuga Grand Shrine (31 March, 2007)


Bronze lanterns at Kasuga Grand Shrine (31 March, 2007)


Stone lanterns at Kasuga Grand Shrine (31 March, 2007)

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.