Yamadera

 This is a lion protecting the temple or maybe the gate I showed yesterday. In any case it is over your head as you start through the gate.

 This gate is a bit unusual as behind the warrior king there is another small room contain what appear to be judges who determine your qualifications to enter.

 Inside the gate there was a small building containing a Buddha and some stelae.

 Because the path is going up the side of a steep mountain, in many place there is a good view back down the slope.

 We were now on the a flat place one level below the highest point. Off to our left we could see three buildings. But before going over to explore them, we decided to look around the flat area we were in.

In front of a little office building, where you could get things stamped to prove you had been here or you could buy trinkets and souvenirs, a little statue stood holding smaller statues. This was only about a foot tall. It represents someone from olden Japan, before the year 1000 probably. The double loops of hair and the clothes tells the age.