Kinkaku-J — Wikipedia

The Kinkaku-ji ( Kinkaku temple ^? , A bit. “Temple of the Golden Pavilion” ) is the usual name of Rokuon-ji ( Luyuan Temple ^? , A bit. “Imperial temple of the deer garden” ) Located in Kyoto in Japan.

The temple of the Golden Pavilion, or Kinkaku-ji, is located in the south of the Kita district of the city of Kyoto (Kyoto prefecture), on the island of Honshū, about 370 km , as the crow flies, southwest of Tokyo, capital of Japan ^{[ 2 ]} . At the foot of the northeast face of Mont Kinugasa ^{[ l 1 ]} (201 m ^{[ 5 ] , [ 6 ]} ), a hill covered with a national pine forest ^{[ 7 ]} , it covers 93,000 m ² ( 9.3 ha ) ^{[ 8 ] , [ 2 ]} . The road that starts along the East Solle Wall of the Temple, commonly known as the Kinukake Road ^{[ l 2 ]} , stretches towards the southwest, at the foot of Mount Kinugasa, and links the Kinkaku-ji to the Ryōan-ji and the Ninna-jiji ^{[ 4 ] , [ 9 ]} .

The burned pavilion (1950).

In the 1220s, the site housed the villa KITAYAMADAI by Saionji Kintsune (1171-1244, chief of the Saionji clan which is part of a branch of Fujiwara) as well as the Saionji temple, inaugurated in 1224 ^{[ ten ]} . After the decline of the Saionji, the villa and the temple are no longer maintained; Only a pond remains from this time ^{[ 11 ]} .

YOSHIMITSU (1358-1408), LE 3 ^{It is} Shoguns Ashikaga, abdicated in 1394 to give way to his son Yoshimochi. Three years later, in 1397, he bought the site at the Saionji clan and began to build a new villa there, KITAYAMADEN , by doing its best to make it an exceptional place, intended to accommodate several Buddhist relics. He resides there until his death. Then, in accordance with his wishes, his son Yoshimochi makes him a Zen temple of the Rinzai school which he baptized Rokuon-ji ^{[ twelfth ] , [ 13 ]} .

The temple was burnt down several times during the War of ōnin (1467-1477) and only the Golden Pavilion survived. However, the garden has kept its appearance of the time ^{[ twelfth ]} .

The June 10, 1897 , the Japanese state promulgates a law on the protection of sanctuaries and ancient temples ^{[ 14 ]} . The Kinkaku-ji became the same year one of the first national treasures ^{[ 15 ]} .

The July 2, 1950 , the Golden Pavilion was fully burnt down by a mentally deficient monk; This event is at the center of Yukio Mishima’s novel: The Golden Pavilion ^{[ 16 ]} . The current building, rebuilt identically, dates from 1955 ^{[ twelfth ]} . The inauthenticity of its materials no longer qualifying it as an exceptional national heritage, it has been removed from the list of national treasures ^{[ 15 ] , [ 17 ]} . However, the Temple Park, classified since 1925, was reclassified in 1956 Japanese special historic site and special picturesque beauty location ^{[ 18 ]} .

In 1987, he was renovated and received a new layer, five times thicker, of gold leaves ^{[ ten ]} . It would seem ^{[Ref. necessary]} that the new layer of gold leaves was coated with an urushiol-based laque (the oil produced by the poisonous sumac) to preserve the golden layer against the weather. This lacquer was used in the past to protect different things used by humans, such as weapons, works of art, household items and even furniture.

In 1994, the Golden Pavilion was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List, among the Historic Monuments of the Old Kyoto ^{[ 19 ]} .

Under the snow in February 2020

The Golden Pavilion ^{[ l 3 ]} , which gives its name, “Kinjaku”, in the temple and located in its garden, made the temple famous. The building is entirely covered with pure gold, with the exception of the ground floor. It serves as Sharidene , containing relics of Buddha.

From an architectural point of view, it is a harmonious and elegant building which brings together three different types of architecture:

• the ground floor ( Hō-SU-IN ) is style Shinden-Zukuri , the style of the Palais of the Heian era;
• the first floor ( Chū-on-on ) Follow the style BUKE-ZUKURI samurai houses;
• The second floor ( Kukkyō-chō ) is Karayō style, that of Zen temples.

At the top of the roof covered with shingles is the sculpture of a fghuang gilded, or “Chinese phoenix ^{[ l 4 ]} ».

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