Kinkaku-ji Temple (Rokuon-ji Temple)

Originally, Kinkakuji Temple was a mountain villa for the Saionji family who were court aristocrats. It was given over to the third Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, Yoshimitsu Ashikaga, who built it up even further to become a uniquely luxurious villa. Later in Yoshimitsu’s life, many a great banquet was held here at the behest of Emperor Go-Komatsu leading the villa to become his prized possession. After Yoshimitsu’s death, Muso Soseki founded a zen temple there. During the Onin War, most of the halls were lost in a fire, but the pavilion itself was saved until it, too, was lost in a fire later. This incident has been the subject of many novels including Yukio Mishima’s “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion”, Tsutomu Mizukami’s “The Burning of the Golden Pavilion”, and others.