Ginkaku-ji

Ginkaku-ji stands where the Philosopher's Path meets the wooded slopes of the Higashiyama hills in eastern Kyoto. Its formal name is Jishō-ji, and like Kinkaku-ji it belongs to the Shōkoku-ji branch of Rinzai Zen. The eighth Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, began building a mountain villa here in 1482, modelled in part on his grandfather Yoshimitsu's golden retreat in the north, and lived here until his death in 1490.

The Silver Pavilion, properly the Kannon-den, is a two-storey hall of dark wood: the lower floor in residential style, the upper a Buddhist chapel with bell-shaped windows. Despite the name, there is no evidence that it was ever meant to be covered in silver; the nickname appeared in the Edo period, probably as a counterpart to the Golden Pavilion.

In front of it lie two sculpted forms of white sand, the flat Ginshadan and the truncated cone of the Kōgetsudai, which catch moonlight. Beyond them a pond garden and a moss garden climb the hillside to a viewpoint over the city.

Yoshimasa withdrew from politics after the Ōnin War (1467–1477), which his indecision over succession had helped cause, and devoted himself to the arts. His villa, the Higashiyama-dono, became the centre of what is called Higashiyama culture: tea gatherings, ink painting, flower arrangement, Noh and garden design in a restrained aesthetic. After his death the villa became a Zen temple. Of the original buildings only the Kannon-den and the Tōgu-dō survive.

Ginkaku-ji is the emblem of Higashiyama culture, the aesthetic of restraint and suggestion associated with the terms wabi and yūgen. Under Yoshimasa's patronage, tea masters, painters and garden designers developed forms that still define Japanese interiors: the shoin study with alcove (tokonoma), staggered shelves and sliding doors, the small tea room and the formal flower arrangement.

The temple forms the northern end of the Philosopher's Path, a canal-side walk to Nanzen-ji named after the philosopher Nishida Kitarō, who walked it daily. It is especially visited in the season of cherry blossom along the canal and of autumn leaves on the hillside.