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Article: Kinkakuji: the Temple of the Golden Pavilion: "there is nothing on earth as beautiful as the Golden Pavilion.".
- Article from:
- Calliope
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Gazing on its gleaming golden walls reflected in the surrounding pond, one may be inclined to agree with the speaker of those lines in The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, a modern novel written by Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) more than 500 years after the structure was built. It is one of Japan's most famous works of art, known to every Japanese middle-school student.
Asikaga Yoshimitsu, one of the most powerful men in Japanese history, conceived of the idea for Golden Pavilion at the end of the 14th century. The grandson of Ashikaga Takauji, the founder of the Ashikaga bakufu (see pages 29-31), Yoshimitsu saw it as the centerpiece of a sprawling villa and garden ...