Yukio Mishima's The Temple of the Golden Pavilion paints a haunting portrait of beauty and destruction, based on the incident of a young monk who burnt down Kinkaku-ji in 1950. Now, while a large part of the story may be just the author's imagination, the arson that caused the temple—which had reportedly survived centuries of fires and earthquakes—to be reconstructed in 1955 is not. By all accounts, the reconstruction is true to the original.
A gold-leafed phoenix perched atop the shingled roof of the three-storey Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion) basks peacefully in the mid-morning sun. Various reports suggest that Kinkaku-ji, whose second and third floors are coated with gold leaf on Japanese lacquer, was built to reflect the extravagant Kitayama culture of 14th-century Kyoto. All that glitter finds faithful reflection in Kyoko-chi, the mirror pond that surrounds Kinkaku-ji, and has stones and islands, said to represent the eight oceans and nine mountains of the Buddhist creation story. Around 1984, the gold leafing was found to be deteriorating, triggering a three-year renovation involving a coat of gold five-times as thick as the previous one.
Tourists don't seem to be allowed to enter the structure, so much of what we know about it comes from Toshisan, our guide; the brochure available at the admission desk; four framed images on a structure opposite the temple and various online descriptions of the interiors. Constructed in Kyoto's northern hills in the 14th century by Yoshimitsu, the third Ashikaga shogun, Kinkaku-ji was converted into a Zen temple once he passed away. The first floor Ho-sui-in (The Chamber of Dharma Waters) is inspired by the Shinden-style Heian mansions, which basically comprise a large room and a verandah. The second storey Cho-on-do (The Tower of Sound Waves), designed in the Buke style of Samurai homes, is home to a Kannon Bodhisattva, while the Zen-style third storey Kukkyo-cho (firmament top), houses an Amida triad and twenty-five Bodhisattvas.
Though officially named Rokuonji Temple (temple of the deer), we failed to spot any deer in the vicinity. This temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 and while Zen masters have oft questioned the motive for the construction of extravagant temples for Buddhist monks, Kinkaku-ji continues to draw tourists by the busload.
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