#kasuga taisha

[the-little-moment]

"There is no cause for apprehension. They are only corrective lenses."

20+ hours later, IT IS FINISHED. Can you find the hidden 九十九 (99)? Ninety-nine happens to be a lucky number in Chinese, which is the language on these stone lanterns. It represents everlasting love or being together forever ❤.

I'm so happy with this piece. This is exactly the kind of art I wanted to make when I started learning to draw on a tablet. Anyway, this illustration is mostly drawn from photos of Kasuga Taisha Shrine in Nara, Japan, the location of the famous deer park.

Star Wars has a planet based on Japan called Inusagi, so that's where Tech is, meeting the friendly locals. This one didn't like his big yellow eyes and bright red light, but it's warming up to him now. If he's got deer crackers in his belt, he may be about to get mobbed 😅. And he must be visiting during a festival, since the lanterns are lit!

Star Wars Celebration is being held in Tokyo this April! I hope to make some more Japanese inspired fanarts before then and I'd love it if this was something other artists wanted to do too! If you make something, please tag me in it! I'd love to see. 🍡🌸🎍

@bad-batch-lurker

[tenjin-no-shinja]

From BlueSky:

"A deer stands right beneath the torii of Kasuga Taisha."

[crazyfox-archives]

A hanging scroll of the Kasuga Miya Mandara (春日宮曼荼羅), a mandala depicting the Buddhist deities manifesting as the local Kasuga deities at Kasuga Taisha Shrine (春日大社) in Nara, the sacred grounds of which are visible below

Color on silk dating to the 14th century from the collection of the Seikadō Bunko Art Museum (静嘉堂文庫美術館) in Tokyo

Image from "Shintō: The Sacred Art of Ancient Japan" edited by Victor Harris, published by the British Museum Press. 2001, page 167

[tanuki-kimono]

[Kasuga] art by Miki Katoh used for their 2023 Goddesses Calendar (see past calendar here).

It depicts Himegami, one of the gods enshrined at Nara’s Kasuga Taisha. Because of Shinto and Buddhism syncretism, Himegami has been through the ages associated with both Amaterasu and Eleven-faces Kannon.

The deer is a kami familiar also associated with Kasuga Taisha, a famous depiction is the “Deer Mandala of Kasuga Shrine“:

The wisteria blossoms are a nod to the Fujiwara clan as Kasuga Taisha was their main shrine.

[nippon-com]

Kasuga Taisha's famous lanterns  are lit only twice a year, for the Setsubun Mantōrō in early February and the Chūgen Mantōrō on August 14–15, while those in the Fujinami-no-ya Hall glimmer year round.

[pyritea]

[kyotodreamtrips]

Hatsumōde, Visiting Kasuga Taisha in Nara City, Japan.

[dajkag]

Természetesen voltam szentélyekben is, az első a Himuro Jinja volt, ahol nagyon menő áldást is kaptam a goshuinomra. Ezután a Kasuga nagyszentélyben sétáltam, ami egy komplett erdei túrával is felért. Itt több kis szentély is található, például a Meoto Daikokusha, ahová csak bepillantottam. Egy részről csináltam sétálós videót (amúgy a Nara Parkról is), majd holnap feltöltöm.