You would think the dancing statue would take top billing at the temple, but you'd be wrong. The real reason it attracts tourists is the temple is on the outskirts of the city up a hill a bit, so you get views of the unimpressive Kyoto skyline from the temple. Personally, I'd take the dancing statue, but unfortunately it didn't dance while we were there. Above is a sort of zen cemetery, stripped down memorial stones and wooden poles. I should mention at this point that I like to refer to photos as above, at right etc. but it seems like after I'm done composing an entry, the photos just move about at will and rarely correspond to my written description. I'll continue to do this, but just keep in mind that it will usually point you in the wrong direction. In this particular case, I'm hoping the reader can distinguish which of the pictures is the cemetery and which is the Kyoto skyline.

Eikan-do was founded in 856 but most of the buildings are from the 16th century. It honors another populist monk, who was so fond of Buddha that he used to lead his followers dancing around the temple grounds. There's a famous statue at the center of the temple showing Buddha looking back over his shoulder, which is unique since Buddha statues all over Asia follow pretty strict rules about what positions you can show him in. The reason for the backward look is one day while the monk and his followers were dancing around, the statue came to life and started leading the dancers. The monk was understandably surprised and momentarily forgot his dance steps, and the dancing statue turned around to yell at the monk to stop screwing up the macarena and pick up the pace.