Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺, lit. "Temple of the Golden Pavilion"), officially named Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺, lit. "Deer Garden Temple"), is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan.[2]
The garden complex is an excellent example of Muromachi period garden design.[3] The Muromachi period is considered to be a classical age of Japanese garden design.[4]
It is designated as a National Special Historic Site and a National
Special Landscape, and it is one of 17 locations comprising the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto World Heritage Site.[6]
It is also one of the most popular buildings in Japan, attracting a large number of visitors annually.[7]
During the Onin war, all of the buildings in the complex aside from the pavilion were burned down.[8] On July 2, 1950, at 2:30 am, the pavilion was burned down
by a 22-year-old novice monk, Hayashi Yoken, who then attempted suicide
on the Daimon-ji hill behind the building. He survived, and was
subsequently taken into custody. The monk was sentenced to seven years
in prison, but was released because of mental illnesses (persecution complex and schizophrenia) on September 29, 1955; he died of tuberculosis shortly after in 1956.[10]
During the fire, the original statue of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was lost to
the flames (now restored). A fictionalized version of these events is
at the center of Yukio Mishima's 1956 book The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.[2]
The present pavilion structure dates from 1955, when it was rebuilt.[2]
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