Overview

This work adopts a typology of intentional monuments, historical monuments, ancient monuments, and timeless monuments to describe how Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion, was created, preserved, destroyed, and rebuilt. It reveals how Ashikaga Yoshimitsu Kinkakuji as a monument to glorify his rule. Later, Kinkakuji became a mortuary temple and historical monument, commemorating the Ashikaga, before becoming an ancient monument that was valued for being old. It then became a National Treasure of Japan. After it was destroyed in 1950, Kinkakuji was built as a timeless monument. In the process, Kinkakuji’s reconstruction influenced how UNESCO authorities defined “original” monuments.

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Thomas D. Conlan, Ph.D. Stanford University, is Professor of Japanese history at Princeton University. His publications include Kings in All but Name (2024), Samurai and the Warrior Culture of Japan (2022), From Sovereign to Symbol (2011), and State of War (2003).

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