| Kashima Shrine Hitachi Ibaraki |
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| This is the entrance to the shrine at the bottom of the hill. You can see the main gate, or Torii, is decorated for New Year with a big rice-straw rope (shimenawa) and some paper lightning-bolts (shide). |
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| Here we have come to the foot of the stairs leading to the main shrine. The white latnterns you can see hanging along the sides of the path are basically advertisments for local businesses. They make a donation and get their name on a lantern. |