Kyoto Part III: Ginkakuji and Kinkakuji (silver and golden tempel)

For part 3 of our Kyoto updates we will tell a little bit about our visit of the two temples in Kyoto with beautiful shiny names: Ginkakuji (the silver temple) and Kinkakuji (the golden temple). These temples are actually located at different sides of the city, with the Ginkakuji lying in the eastern part of the city (accessible by a leisurely stroll on the Philosopher's Path) and Kinkakuji located in the Northern part of the city.

Kinkakuji has the longest history of the two temples. In 1397 it was build by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu for his retirement villa, and only after his death in 1408 is began to serve as a Zen temple. The temple is most famous for its beautiful looks, the Pavilion is a very impressive building. The two top floors of the temple are completely covered in gold leaf, making it shine in the sunlight, and is reflected in the pond. Therefore there is a special area designated to shoot pictures, where it is very crowded with people taking photo's and posing in front of the temple! 

Of course we also took a pose for the picture

The Golden Pavilion reflected in the water

The Golden Pavilion

Ginkakuji was build in 1482 by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, modelled after the Golden temple of his grandfather. However, the silver temple was actually never covered in silver! Maybe the name was only given as a nickname to contrast it with the Golden temple.. or maybe, he just ran out of money..

Silver or not, the temple does look impressive. It's located between a green garden, and next to a big dry sand garden "the sea of silver sand" (and no, the sand is not actually silver ;) with a big cone of sand with the name "moon viewing platform". When we visited Ginkakuji they were actually just working on making the sand cone, very interesting to see!

The Silver Pavilion

The Silver Pavilion with 'the sea of silver sand'

View on Ginkakuji from a high point in the garden