Kinkaku Temple (Kyoto)

 temple, park, place with historical importance, cultural heritage / national heritage, interesting place, buddhist temple, listed building / architectural heritage, historic landmark

1 Kinkakujicho
Kita Ward, Kyoto, 603-8361, Japan
Phone: +81 75-461-0013
www.shokoku-ji.jp/en/kinkakuji/

Kinkaku-ji (Japanese: 金閣寺, Kinkaku-ji - Golden Pavilion Temple) is the informal name of Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺, Deer Garden Temple) in Kyoto, Japan, the Pavilion being the main attraction of the temple grounds. The Golden Pavilion (formally called 'Shariden') was originally built in 1397 to serve as a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, as part of his area estate then known as Kitayama. It was his son who converted the building into a Zen temple of the Rinzai school. The temple was burned down several times during the Ōnin War. Yoshimitsu's grandson used Kinkaku-ji as the inspiration for Ginkaku-ji, a Buddhist temple, which he intended to cover in silver.

The entire pavilion except the basement floor is covered with pure gold leaf. The pavilion functions as a shariden, housing relics of the Buddha. On the roof of the pavilion is a golden fenghuang or "Chinese phoenix".

The Golden Pavilion has a magnificent Japanese garden right outside of it. There are many islands and stones on the pond that represent the Buddhist creation story.

In 1950, the temple was burned down by a mentally disturbed monk; a fictionalized version of the events is at the center of Yukio Mishima's 1956 book The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. The present structure dates from 1955. Recently, the coating of Japanese lacquer was found a little decayed and a new coating as well as gilding with gold-leaf, much thicker than the original coatings was completed in 1987. Additionally, the interior of the building, including the paintings were also restored. Finally, the roof was restored in 2003.

The land where the Golden Pavilion sits was used in the 1220s as a villa for Kintsune Saionji. The pond near the Golden Pavilion is called Kyōko-chi (Mirror Pond).

The newest layer of gold leaf in 2003.