Kinkaku-ji

Rokuon-ji 鹿苑寺
The shariden at Rokuon-ji, commonly known as the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji")
Basic information
Location	1 Kinkakuji-chō, Kita-ku, Kyōto, Kyoto Prefecture
Affiliation	Zen, Rinzai sect, Shōkoku-ji school
Deity	Kannon Bosatsu (Avalokiteśvara)
Country	Japan
Website	www.shokoku-ji.jp
Architectural description
Founder	Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
Completed	1397

Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺^?, literally "Temple of the Golden Pavilion"), officially named Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺^?, literally "Deer Garden Temple"), is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. It is one of the most popular buildings in Japan, attracting a large number of visitors annually. It is designated as a National Special Historic Site and a National Special Landscape, and it is one of 17 locations making up the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which are World Heritage Sites.

The site of Kinkaku-ji was originally a villa called Kitayama-dai (北山第), belonging to a powerful statesman, Saionji Kintsune. Kinkaku-ji's history dates to 1397, when the villa was purchased from the Saionji family by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and transformed into the Kinkaku-ji complex. When Yoshimitsu died, the building was converted into a Zen temple by his son, according to his wishes.

During the Onin war (1467–1477), all of the buildings in the complex aside from the pavilion were burned down.

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 in March, 1956. 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.