Kinkaku-ji

Kinkaku-ji lies at the foot of the Kitayama hills in north-western Kyoto. Its formal name is Rokuon-ji, the Deer Park Temple, and it belongs to the Shōkoku-ji branch of Rinzai Zen. The popular name refers to the Kinkaku, or Golden Pavilion, a reliquary hall whose upper two storeys are coated in gold leaf over black lacquer and crowned by a bronze phoenix.

The three storeys are built in three different styles: the ground floor in the shinden style of Heian aristocratic palaces, the middle in the buke style of samurai residences, and the top floor as a Zen Buddhist hall with bell-shaped windows. The pavilion is designed to be seen across the Kyōko-chi, the Mirror Pond, whose islands and rocks were set to evoke the Buddhist paradise and the landscapes of China.

The present building is a reconstruction. In 1950 a young monk set fire to the original, which had survived since the late 14th century; it was rebuilt to the old design and completed in 1955, and its gold leaf was renewed on a larger scale in 1987. The fire is the subject of Mishima Yukio's novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

In 1397 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third Muromachi shogun, acquired an aristocratic estate and turned it into the Kitayama-dono, a lavish retirement residence where he received emperors and envoys from Ming China. After his death in 1408 the villa became a Zen temple according to his wishes. Most of the other buildings were lost over the following centuries, but the pavilion survived until 1950. Its golden splendour gave its name to Kitayama culture, the aristocratic-Zen culture of Yoshimitsu's age.

Kinkaku-ji embodies Kitayama culture, the synthesis of court elegance, samurai power and Zen Buddhism that flourished under Yoshimitsu, who also patronised the Noh theatre of Zeami. Its counterpart is Ginkaku-ji, built by Yoshimitsu's grandson Yoshimasa in a quieter aesthetic.

The pavilion is among the most reproduced images of Japan. The 1950 arson became a national shock and inspired Mishima Yukio's novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (1956) as well as Mizukami Tsutomu's Kinkaku Enjō. A snow-covered pavilion is a sought-after winter view.