World Heritage site “Kasuga Taisha Shrine” in Nara, whose main shrine is currently under restoration

I went to Nara last month and visited a World Heritage site “Kasuga Taisha Shrine”.
When I got to the shrine, I found that this year marked one which religious restoration would be held every twenty years. So I happened to worship at the tentative place,
where main deities were moved into.

 

Ise Shrine’s renewal of the main building every twenty years is famous but I first heard
about one of this Kasuga Taisha Shrine. So I read an information board about it and knew
that it was not a shrine's transfer but a restoration at the same place.

 

This traditional event since more than 1,200 years seems to have been proceeded uneventfully this year again, and I hope it will continue in the future and will always remain
the beautiful main shrine there. (H.S)

 

Big shrine gate at the approach leading to Kasuga Taisha Shrine

 

Information board about the traditional restoration

 

There are over fifteen shrines in the wood where the shrine is. At one of them, Meoto Daikokusha Shrine, here is a stone water tank for unique fortune-telling slip to have it float
in water to see the fortune

 

Speaking of Kasuga Taisha, the beauty of the cloisters and the many lanterns is one of the features

 

The vivid vermillion contrasts favorably with greenery. The large cedar tree you see on the left is called a sacred tree and is over 800 years old