The two story wooden pavilion at Ginkaku-ji wears a coat of dark, weathered lacquer rather than the silver leaf its name promises. Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa ordered the construction in fourteen eighty-two, intending it as a private mountain retreat for poetry, tea, and contemplation. After Yoshimasa died, the villa became a Zen temple. A workman once found a cache of gold coins buried beneath the floorboards, left behind from a time when the shogun emptied his coffers to build this place.
Ginkaku-ji
religious
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