Kinkaku-Ji

Kinkaku-ji attraction highlights Kinkaku-ji, officially named Rokuon-ji, is a temple of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism located in the Kita Ward of Kyoto, Japan. It was originally built in 1397 when Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, converted the mountain villa of the Saionji family into a temple. The temple's main building, the Shariden, is known as the "Golden Pavilion" because its exterior is covered in gold leaf. The temple's name, Rokuon-ji, is derived from Yoshimitsu's posthumous name, Rokuon-in. Kinkaku-ji combines the cultures of nobility, samurai, and Zen Buddhism, symbolizing Japan's Kitayama culture, and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.