"Kasuga Taisha" Huge World Heritage Site. Let' enjoy the beautiful nature such as "Manyou botanical garden" and the atmosphere of ancient capital "Nara"!

"Kasuga Taisha" was found in 768 AD. It is said that it was built for wishing the peace for the people and the country. And now "Kasuga Taisha" is one of the main shrine of Nara and many tourist visit here throughout the year.

Registered in the World Heritage, there are a lot of national treasures, important cultural properties and buildings. "Manyou Botanical Garden" famous for the Wisteria Flowers which is composed in "The Ten Thousand Leaves" is the oldest "Manyou Botanical Garden" in Japan.

In the Nara Park, "Kasuga Taisha" is as popular as "Todai-ji" for the tourists. Please take a walk in huge area with plenty of nature.

Table of contents for this article

１，Basic information
２，Useful information
３，Map
４，Best Spot of Kasuga Taisha
５，Access information
６，Recommended information around Kasuga Taisha

１，Basic information

Name： Kasuga Taisha
Name in English： KASUGA TAISYA
Prefecture： Nara
Area： Nara city (around Nara Park)
Address： 160 Kasugano-cho, Nara-shi, Nara
Tel： 0742-22-7788

Open： ※ Vary from the season

Apl ～ Sep／6：00～18：00
Oct ～ Mar／6：30～17：00

※Special visit for inner shrine／8：30～16：00
※Mar 8 ～ Mar 3, Dec 20 ～ Jan 7 Close all day
※Visiting is not acceptable on 1st, 11th and 21st day of every month and some day depends on the month.
※Visiting is not acceptable during the special festival.

Please see the official web site for the detail

Price：

・Inner shrine special visit
Hatsuho-ryo (ceremony fee) ¥500
※Hobutsu den (treasure house) is now close because of in under repair.

・Manyou Botanical Garden
Adult／¥500
Children／¥250

Car Parking： 〇 (Toll Parking lot) ※max 100 cars

・Open
Feb ～ Nov／7：30～17：00
Dec ～ Jan／7：30～16：30

・Parking price
Car ／¥1000
Motorcycle ／¥300

Official web site：http://www.kasugataisha.or.jp/index.html

２，Useful information

Less than 10 min walk from a station： ☓
Credit Card： ☓
Accompany with： friend／date／family／alone
Staff who can speak foreign language： Unknown
Free Wi-Fi： Unknown
Duration： 1 hour～

３，Map

It is said that "Kasuga Taisha" has 990,000 m2 vast site starting from Ichino-Torii (Buddhist style gate). We show the map of the precincts and map of the Inner shrine.

Map of the Inner shrine

▶ Download the map from here（PDF）

Map of the whole precincts

▶Download the map from here（PDF）

Source by： Official web site／http://www.kasugataisha.or.jp/guidance/map.html

Main Buildings and Spots

●Gohon-den (Inner shrine)
●Wakamiya shrine
●Ichino torii (Buddhist style Gate)
●Nino torii (Buddhist style Gate)
●Homotsu-den (Treasure House)
●Manyou Botanical Garden
●Kii shrine
●Mizuya shrine

４，Best Spots of Kasuga Taisha

We show some best spots of Kasuga Taisha for your visiting.

"Inner shrine" enclosed by a cloister. See a lot of historical buildings!

Around the Inner shrine, North and South, East and West every side are enclosed by a cloister. There is a "Minami-mon" in the south and the length of the cloister of East and West is not same.

Inner shrine worships "Kasuga Shisho Myojin", first enshrined deity is "Takemikazuchi no mikoto" second enshrined deity is "Futsunushino mikoto" third enshrined deity is "Amenokoyaneno mikoto" and fourth enshrined deity is "Hime gami".

There are many National treasures and Important cultural properties in this area. Please come and see them.

●Inner Shrine／National Treasures


Source by： Kasuga Taisha official web site／http://www.kasugataisha.or.jp/guidance/map/k_map01.html

●Chu-mon・Orou (Central Gate・Croister)／Important cultural property


Source by： Kasuga Taisha official web site／http://www.kasugataisha.or.jp/guidance/map/k_map02.html
http://www.kasugataisha.or.jp/guidance/map/k_map02.html

●Hei-den・Bu-den(Hall of offering・Dance Hall）／Important cultural property


Source by： Kasuga Taisha official web site／http://www.kasugataisha.or.jp/guidance/map/k_map05.html

●Minami-mon (South Gate)／important cultural property



●Kairo (Croister)

The direct approach to Kasuga Taisha start from "Ichino Torii"! Feel the ancient history!

Source by： Kasuga Taisha official web site／http://www.kasugataisha.or.jp/guidance/map/map01.html

There is an direct approach to the Kasuga Taisha from the entrance "Ichino torii". In the plenty of nature, deer appear sometimes, walking on the approach which the nobles also had have a walk in Nara era, please think and feel the history of Nara from Nara era to today.

Limited time offer! "Morning visit to the shrine guide by Shinto priest"
Let's discover secret places !

Many kinds of events are offer in Kasuga Taisha.
Among them, we select the most interesting event "Morning visit to the shrine guide by Shinto priest".

In this tour, Walking with Shinto priest and he guides and tells about the Kasuga Taisha. Shinto priest show you famous place and secret place also you can here about the religious. In the silence of early morning let's discover the new character of Kasga Taisha.

【Morning visit to the shrine guide by Shinto pries】

●The dates：2015. Apr ～ Oct every Saturday, Sunday, and Holiday
●Meeting Time： 6:30 morning
●Meeting Point： Ichino torii
●Duration： around one hour
●Price： Free

"Houbutsu den" The Treasure House of Kasuga Taisha

Source by： Official web site／http://www.kasugataisha.or.jp/h_s_tearoom/treasure/treasure3.html

※： "Hobutsu den" is close at this moment because of repairs.

●Close at 2015 Jan 9 ～ 2016 end of June

Kasuga Taisha has more than 3,000 items of National treasures and important cultural properties. In the "Hobutsu den", selected 40 treasures are exhibited ( Art craft, Picture scroll and Weapons of Samurai) .
But this house is closed until end of June for repair.

【information of Hobutsu den 】

●Open
Open through the year.
※There are about 4 day or 8 day close par year exceptionally.

●Price
Adult／¥400
Student (High school and junior high school)／¥300
Student (Elementary school)／¥200

"Manyou Botanical Garden" Enjoy the plants written in "The Thousand Leaves"

Source by： Official web site／http://www.kasugataisha.or.jp/h_s_tearoom/manyou-s/manyou_s2.html

Manyou Botanical Garden means we can enjoy the plants which is written in Japanese premier anthology of classical poetry "The Ten Thousand Leaves". "Manyou Botanical Garden" in Kasuga Taisha is the oldest one's and we can see 300 different kinds of plants more than 80% plants written in The Ten Thousand Leaves.

In these gardens we especially recommend "Wisteria Flower Garden". Wisteria flower is the symbol flower of Kasuga Taisha and Kasuga Taisha is noted for it. Many people come to see the 20 different kinds and 200 trees of Wisteria flower around end of April and beginning of May.

Please see and enjoy this beautiful Wisteria flower.

【Manyou Botanical Garden】

●Open
Mar ～ Nov ／9：00～16：30 ※Close at 17：00
Dec ～Feb ／9：00～16：00 ※Close at 16：30

●Close
Monday (Dec ～ Feb)
Open all day (Mar ～ Nov)

●Price
Adult ／¥500
Child ／¥250

"Kasuganinai jaya" Have a break at Tea house.

While visiting the buildings in the huge site of Kasuga Taisha, "Kasuganinai jaya" is the just right place for having a break. Looking at the garden and feel the atmosphere of ancient history. Also you can have seasonal rice porridge and buy souvenir.

【Information of Kasuganinai jaya 】

●Open
10:00〜16:00

●Close
Jan ～ Mar, June ～ Sep, Dec／ Monday
Apr, May, Oct, Nov／Open all day

●Tel
0742-27-2718

５，Access information

Address： 160 Kasugano-cho, Nara-shi, Nara
Tel： 0742-22-7788

Transportation：

(by Train)
25 min walk from Kintetsu Nara Line "Nara" station

(by Bus)
Take the Nara kotsu bus at JR Nara Line or Kintetsu Nara Line "Nara" station and get off at "Kasuga Taisha Honden"
or get off at "Kasuga Taisha Omotesando" and walk 10 min

６，Recommended information around Kasuga Taisha

【Sightseeing】
▶"Nara Park" Interaction with Semi-wild Deer. Enjoy many historical cultural heritages.

▶"Todai-ji" Most popular sightseeing Place in Nara! Famous for "The Great Buddha" Let's study the history of Nara!