Kinkaku-ji is covered in actual gold leaf — the top two floors are sheathed in it — and its reflection in the mirror-still pond in front is one of the most photographed images in Japan. The pavilion was built in 1397 as a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, a man who apparently felt that retirement required a three-storey golden house surrounded by a manicured garden designed to represent paradise.
The building you see today is not the original. In 1950, a young monk named Hayashi Yoken set fire to it in what became one of the most famous acts of arson in Japanese history. He was obsessed with the pavilion's beauty and, according to his own testimony, felt that destroying it was the only way to possess it. Yukio Mishima turned the story into a novel — The Temple of the Golden Pavilion — that's now considered one of the greatest works of modern Japanese literature. The temple was rebuilt in 1955 using the original plans, and the gold leaf was reapplied in 1987 using five times as much gold as the original.
The garden is designed to be experienced as a walking circuit, and every element is deliberate — the islands in the pond represent the Japanese creation myth, the stone arrangements follow Zen principles, and the pine tree near the entrance has been trained for centuries into the shape of a sailing ship. You can't go inside the pavilion, which is frustrating, but the exterior reflected in the water on a still morning is genuinely one of the most beautiful things you'll ever see.
Verified Facts
Kinkaku-ji was originally built in 1397 by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
A monk named Hayashi Yoken burned the original pavilion in 1950
Yukio Mishima wrote a novel based on the arson called The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
The current structure was rebuilt in 1955 and re-gilded with gold leaf in 1987
Get walking directions
1 Kinkakujicho, Kita, Kyoto, 603-8361, Japan
