Japanese stone lanterns are imported from China in the Tang Dynasty through the Korean peninsula. With the introduction of Buddhism to Japan, Nara era monastery began to build large numbers of stone lamps , stone lamps are generally monks use . To the Heian period , the shrine has also been a similar stone lamp . Now the Japanese shrines , temples and old streets still have a large number of fixed stone lamps. In pre-modern port area also developed a similar stone lighthouse lamp night light often .