Temple of the Silver Pavilion @ Ginkaku @ 銀閣寺

Location: 2 Ginkakuji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto City
Tel: 075-771-5725
How to get there:

From Kyoto Station: Take Kyoto City Bus 100 bound for Ginkaku-ji Mae then walk toward east for 5 minutes, or
Take Kyoto City Bus 5 bound for Iwakura and get off at "Ginkaku-ji Michi" bus stop then walk east for 10 minutes.

From Shijo Kawaramachi: Take Kyoto City Bus 32 bound for Ginkaku-ji Mae then walk toward east for 5 minutes.

We came here after the visit to Temple of Golden Pavilion. It is another popular tourist spot in Kyoto, as this temple also listed by UNESCO as World Heritage site in 1994. Basically, today is our visit to all the famous temple in Kyoto area.

Once we entered the temple, we found out that there are lot of sands around the temple. These sand is properly maintained, and we feels very privilege to visit another UNESCO listed site.

The roof of the temple is made of Japanese cypress. It is about 30cm long, with 3cm showing at the bottom end, exposed to the weather and fix with a bamboo nail. It does show how a small thing would have a great impact towards the architecture of the temple.

The 8th Muromachi Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436-1490) started construction of a villa, Higashiyama-dono at the foot of Mt. Higashiyama in the year 1482. He moved in Higashiyama-dono next year. Togu-do building was completed in 1486. Ginkaku was completed in 1490 just after Yoshimasa passed away. The villa was changed into a temple, Jisho-in, in accordance with his will. In 1491, The name of the temple was changed to Jisho-ji.

Sometime between 1550 and 1561, all the buildings but Togu-do and Ginkaku were burned down by fires of war. The temple was dilapidated for some time.

From 1615 to 1644, large-scale repair and reconstruction was made by Miyagi Toyomori and his grandson Toyotsugu. Sometime between 1735 and 1799, Ginsadan and Kogetsudai were installed.

In the year 1931, the ruins of Karesansui garden of the temple was excavated. In 2007, a scientific research confirmed that silver leaves have never been applied to Ginkaku. In 2008, the city of Kyoto advised the temple to lacquer the second story of Ginkaku in original black to preserve it, but they declined because they believed weathered walls would fit the culture of Wabi and Sabi.

When we came here, once we entered to the temple, we found out that the temple is under maintenance and only be fully 'available' after March 2010. Still, we are able to find the marvelous part of the temple. Thoug a bit disappointed, but still we able to find some important information regarding the temple.

For more information, one may find the information from this website, which is Japanese wording, official website for the temple: http://www.shokoku-ji.or.jp/ginkakuji/index.html.