Ginkakuji

Ashikaga Yoshimasa built this as a retirement villa from 1482, in conscious answer to his grandfather's golden Kinkakuji, and the plan to cover the pavilion in silver foil - if it ever existed, which is disputed - was never carried out. What stands is dark unpainted timber, and the restraint is the point: the Higashiyama culture that formed around Yoshimasa here produced the tea ceremony, flower arrangement and the aesthetic of understatement that runs through Japanese art afterwards. The garden holds two sand constructions, the Ginshadan, a raked sea of silver sand, and the Kogetsudai, a truncated cone about 180 centimetres high; their date and purpose are not securely known, and explanations from moon-viewing device to accumulated raking practice all remain speculation. A moss garden and a path up the hillside give a view back over the roofs to the city.

History

Ashikaga Yoshimasa began planning a retirement villa and gardens here as early as 1460, and work on the two-storey Kannon hall, modelled on his grandfather's Golden Pavilion, began on 21 February 1482; it was halted during the Ōnin War, and the silver foil once planned was never applied - the name Silver Pavilion dates only from the Edo period. Yoshimasa, around whom the Higashiyama culture grew, became a Zen monk in 1485, and after his death on 27 January 1490 the villa became the Zen temple Jishō-ji, named after him; a restoration begun in February 2008 again left the pavilion without silver (Wikipedia, Ginkaku-ji).

What to look for

• An unsilvered pavilion - dark unpainted timber, the silver never applied.
• The sand cone - the Kogetsudai, about 180 centimetres, of uncertain date and purpose.
• The raked sand sea - the Ginshadan, combed in a wave pattern beside it.
• The hillside path - a climb through moss to a view back over the roofs.

When to go

Late November for maples; early morning any season. An hour or two.

Practical notes

Crowds are heavy and the garden route is one-way and narrow. The pavilion cannot be entered. Entry is charged. The sand forms are maintained daily and their meaning is genuinely unknown, despite confident guidebook claims.

Nearby

The Philosopher's Path runs south to Nanzenji; Honen-in is along it.

Key facts