While in Kyoto, Japan we visited the Golden Pavilion. It was
very beautiful and the entire grounds for the temple were very serene. I
couldn’t tell you if it was the time of day or the calm atmosphere that the
area emanated that made this very popular tourist spot as serene as it was. The
cold coating on the outer wall of the top two floors reminded me of the top of
the Iowa State Capitol building. (There is not information about how many
baseballs all the paint adds up unfortunately.) The gold walls were more yellow
than the dome of the capitol.
The Pavilion’s official title is currently Kinkaku-ji which
has the word gold in it. I believe it is the “kin” part as the grandson of the
Shogun who built the pavilion built a similar building called the Ginkaku-ji
which means silver pavilion. The temple used to be named Rokuon-ji which means
Deer Garden Temple. Before it was ever a temple, however, it was home to the
Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and was used as a retirement villa. I was according
to this death wish that the villa be used as a Zen Buddhist Temple.
The Golden Pavilion has burned down a few times since it was
constructed in 1397. It burned down during a civil war that destroyed a lot of
Japan. Most recently it was burned down by a monk apprentice in 1955. He was
sentenced to seven years in prison. It was later they found he had a mental
illness. Our guide informed us that the Priest who over saw the monk, travelled
through Japan apologizing for the monk’s actions. Part of this venture was to
also raise money to rebuild. They managed to find the money to rebuild the
Pavilion but since it was post WWII in Japan, they didn’t have enough money to
add the kind of gold that is required for durability. The gold began to chip
away and later when enough money was put together they repainted over the
original layer of paint. This is one of only a few things that makes the
building not authentic to the original building.
Sarah Turner
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