Adashinonenbutsuji Temple

North of Nisonin, Adashino was once the burial ground of Kyoto, where the bodies of nameless people were left exposed to the elements. Kobo Daishi founded a temple here for them, and that is where this one begins. Later Honen made it a hall of nenbutsu practice, which gave it its present name. In the Meiji period the unclaimed stone Buddhas scattered around the area were gathered in, and about 8,000 of them now fill the grounds — a great crowd of people whose names and stories are entirely lost, assembled in one place. In August the temple holds the thousand-lantern memorial, an eerily beautiful rite that has become one of Kyoto's seasonal fixtures.