Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto ・ Rokuonji and Its Famous Golden Pavilion

Kinkakuji Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site best known by its nickname, which literally means "Temple of the Golden Pavilion." But the temple is officially known as Rokuonji Temple, and the site's full history goes back to a time before the famous pavilion. In the 13th century, the land belonged to the noble Japanese poet Saionji Kintsune, who owned a villa on the site called Kitayama-dai. In 1397, however, the land was purchased by a former shogun, Yoshimitsu Ashikaga, who began to build his own new complex of buildings to resemble an ideal Buddhist paradise. Part of Yoshimitsu's villa was the original "kinkaku" golden pavilion, but it wasn't yet a temple! That change happened after the shogun's death, according to his last wishes, when his son turned the site into a Zen Buddhist temple in the year 1420. From this point on, over the past six centuries, it has officially carried the name of Rokuonji Temple.