I told my husband if there’s one temple to see in Kyoto, it’s this one – Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion. The postcard of my dreams. The structure we see today is a reconstruction finished in 1955 after the original building, dating from the late 1300s, was burned down by a schizophrenic monk. The excessive gold in this design was utilised to relieve the area of any notion of death or negativity given its history of arson resulting in gaudy, golden, gilded reflection perfection.
