About Kinkaku-ji

Kinkaku-ji ("The Temple of the Golden Pavilion"), located in Kyoto, is one of the most famous sites in Japan. The proper name of the temple is Rokuon-ji, but it is commonly known as Kinkaku-ji because the main structure's top two floors are covered in gold leaf.

It was originally built as a villa and was acquired by Shogun Yoshimitsu Ashikaga in the late 14th century. It was converted into a Zen temple after the death of Ashikaga in the early 15th century. It stood for centuries, but it was burned down in 1950 by a young man who was obsessed with its beauty. This incident became the basis of the famous Yukio Mishima novel Kinkakuji (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion). The present structure was built in 1955.

Transliteration Note: Japanese words that end in a suffix are often--but not always--hyphenated when transliterated into English. For Kinkaku-ji, the suffix "ji" is the Chinese character that means "temple." The word for temple (using the same character) is ("tera"). That character is 寺.