Upon arriving at the temple, the first thing you see is a magnificent, vermilion-lacquered gate — Sangedatsu-mon, or ”The Gate of Three Liberations.” This staggering wooden structure is the largest ...

Originally, Kinkakuji Temple was a mountain villa for the Saionji family who were court aristocrats. It was given over to the third Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, Yoshimitsu Ashikaga, who built it ...