Overview
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu built it in 1397 and each storey uses a different style — aristocratic, samurai, Chinese Zen — stacked to make a point about the orders of the world. The 1950 arson destroyed a building that had stood for five centuries, and the reconstruction is exact, with thicker gold leaf than the original carried. The pond in front is designed so that the pavilion appears complete in its reflection, which is why almost every photograph is taken from the same three metres of path.
Highlights
Go at opening; the route is one-way, narrow and slow, and by mid-morning it moves at a shuffle. Ten minutes further on foot, Ryōan-ji’s rock garden is the counterweight to all that gold and is usually calmer. The tea house near the exit sells matcha with a sweet on a terrace most visitors walk past.