Kinkaku-ji (Second visit)

About Kinkaku-ji

This is the temple that everyone thinks of when they think of temples in Kyoto. The gold one on the lake. It really is one of the top tourist destinations in Kyoto.

One thing that makes this zen temple unique is that its upper floors are covered with gold leaf.

This extravagant temple was made to be the retirement home of the third shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

In addition to the temple, the sprawling garden is also wonderful to visit and includes other buildings such as a tea house, priests’ residence, and more.

My Visit to Kinkaku-ji

This was one of our stops when my friend visited Japan. This is actually my second goshuin from Kinkaku-ji. The first one is here.

While there are other temples that I like a lot better, it is extremely eye-catching when it comes into view. It’s definitely too popular, but I also think everyone should see it at least once.

It was an overcast but hot day and there were enough other tourists there to be noticeable but not so many that there were long lines.

Some of the other visitors saw us trying to get coins in in a bowl and a huge crowd formed around us. They were really enthusiastic.

Links

Kinkaku-ji homepage (EN)

Omairi Club (JP)

Location