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A sign at the entrance to Kasuga Taisha provides the following information:
From other sources, I learned that legend has it that the shrine originated when the deity Takemimikazuchi-no-Mikoto arrived on the top of Mount Mikasa from Kashima Shrine in Hitachi Province (present-day Kashima Shrine in Kashima City, Ibaraki Prefecture), riding on a white stag. In 768 the Fujiwara clan buiilt shrines in four locations on the present grounds to worship the gods named above. The construction of the Wakamiya Shrine in 1135 brought the number of deities worshiped at Kasuga to five. From the Heian period on, the Fujiwara clan, along with the emperor and the imperial family, actively sponsored the shrine and donated to it numerous sacred items to be used by the gods enshrined within the inner sanctuaries. Today, the Kasuga Shrine Treasure House (Kasuga Taisha Hōmotsukan) houses many of these shrine treasures along with other valuable objects. The shrine and its surrounding forests are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.”
At
the entrance to Kasuga Taisha, our guide, Kyoko, points out the plaques naming
donors to the shrine.
Barrels
of sake donated by the manufacturers as temple tribute. All the barrels are now
empty and just for show.
The
stone marker at the entrance to the shrine proclaims that “In
December 1998, ‘Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara’
including Kasuga Taisha Shrine was inscribed upon the World Heritage List, under
the terms of the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural
and Natural Heritage. Inscription on this List confirms the outstanding
universal value of cultural or natural sites which deserve protection for the
benefit of all humanity.”
This
stag fountain is a reminder of the legend that
Takemimikazuchi-no-Mikoto rode in from Kashima Shrine on the back of a
white deer.
Kyoko
asked us to guess how many lanterns there are at the shrine, this being one of
the features for which it is noted. She later provided the answer: 3,218. Here
Tom poses with a few of them.
This
sign gives the history of the shrine (paraphrased above) in Japanese and
English.
We
were told that this wisteria is many centuries old. |