The temple itself has both the stone lanterns and these beautiful hanging lanterns that gave me all sorts of interior decorating ideas. As I mentioned before, this is a Shinto shrine, whereas most other temples in Nara are Buddhist, which became hugely popular in Japan while Nara was capital. I'm a big fan of Buddhism, so I think it's natural that it should win such a big following, but it must be said that Shinto is a pretty easy religion to beat. First, they worship the emperor, and I'm not going there again. Second, they had that stupid rule about destroying capitals and moving every time the emperor died, which I'm sure thrilled the people forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods and start building from scratch over and over. Third, they have another awful rule that all their temples need to be destroyed and completely rebuilt every 20 years. This temple has been completely rebuilt over 50 times, although mercifully they stopped here in 1893. Putting aside the huge expense wasted constantly rebuilding and destroying things, it also is a bit of a killjoy for tourists. You'll go to a beautifully situated temple, and learn all these special things about it, and then learn it was last rebuilt in the 1980's or something. I think Shinto was founded by the carpenters' union.