銀閣寺

About this photo

This photograph shows the pond and the Silver Pavilion at Ginkakuji in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto. It appears in Kyoto Meishocho (Album of Famous Places in Kyoto), published in 1907 (Meiji 40) by the Kyoto City Council.

Ginkakuji is a popular name, and the temple's formal name is Jishoji. It grew out of Higashiyama-dono, a mountain villa that Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the eighth shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, began building in 1482. The formal name of the Silver Pavilion is Kannonden, and its ridgepole was raised in 1489. The first floor, Shinkuden, is built like a residence, and the second floor, Choonkaku, like a Zen Buddhist hall, so the two floors differ in style.

The Silver Pavilion is a National Treasure. Despite its name, it was never covered in silver leaf, as a scientific survey in 2007 also confirmed. Major repairs were carried out from 2008 to 2010. The garden's mound of white sand, the Kogetsudai (Moon-Viewing Platform), and the Ginshadan (Sea of Silver Sand), with sand raked into waves, are thought to date from the late Edo period.

Glossary