Other than Nara, which I may not make it to, this was the last place on my "Must see" list. Although, wait a minute, I forgot about the place with the hundreds of torii gates than a friend photographed for me because, frankly, my feet and legs have had it! Kinkakuji, in spite of the crowds, is pretty neat. The top two stories are completely covered in gold leaf. It's a little weird to see the tourists throwing money among statues of Buddha in an effort to get a coin into the alms bowl in the center, but, for the most part, the tourists were an older set - like me, and remained respectful of the area and each other. Kinkakuji was a retreat of a shogun whose son turned it into a temple upon his father's death. Then a crazy monk burned it down (There is now a shrine to the fire god on the grounds...), and they rebuilt the place and restored everything in 1987?? The gardens were always there, and they are lovely - although I liked the diversity of the gardens at Ginkakuji better. Ginkakuji, BTW, means the Silver Pavilion, but it's not really silver. It used to be completely covered in black laquer that apparently glowed silver in the moonlight. -- And you were complaining that you had to repaint the house this summer!
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