Setsubun Mantoro Festival

The light of nearly 3,000 lanterns shining out in prayers for safety in the home, prosperity in business, continued luck in battle, and gentle repose for ancestors

At Kasuga Grand Shrine, there are roughly 2,000 stone lanterns and roughly 1,000 hanging lanterns, for a total of nearly 3,000. These lanterns have been donated to the shrine since the end of the Heian era up until today as prayers for safety in the home, prosperity in business, continued luck in battle, and gentle repose for ancestors. The majority of them have particularly come from the common folk and religious associations in Kasuga from the end of the Muromachi era up into the Edo era. In the past, when a lantern was donated as an offering, the person making the donation also provided money to buy lamp oil. Every night, the lantern would be lit as long as its oil remained, but nowadays all of the lanterns are lit on the night of Setsubun, and on August 14 and 15 as part of a lantern festival.

Kasuga Grand Shrine: The head shrine of the nearly 3,000 Kasuga shrines throughout Japan. Visitors can see deer, considered to be divine messengers, walking about the shrine grounds. The shrine was built at the beginning of the Nara era in order to pray for national tranquility and peace for the citizenry.