[3] The temple is nicknamed after its reliquary (shariden), the Golden Pavilion (金閣, Kinkaku), whose top two floors are coated in 0.5 μm gold leaf.

The site of Kinkaku-ji was originally a villa called Kitayama-dai (北山第), belonging to a powerful statesman, Saionji Kintsune.

The gold employed was intended to mitigate and purify any pollution or negative thoughts and feelings towards death.

[4] On 2 July 1950, at 2:30 am, the pavilion was burned down[9] by a 22-year-old novice monk, Hayashi Yoken (Kinkaku-ji arson incident [ja]), who then attempted suicide on the Daimon-ji hill behind the building.

The monk was sentenced to seven years in prison, but was released because of mental illnesses (persecution complex and schizophrenia) on 29 September 1955; he died of tuberculosis in March 1956.

A fictionalized version of these events is at the center of Yukio Mishima's 1956 book The Temple of the Golden Pavilion,[2] and another in the ballet RAkU.

[2] The pavilion successfully incorporates three distinct styles of architecture, which are shinden, samurai and zen, specifically on each floor.

It is designed as an open space with adjacent verandas and uses natural, unpainted wood and white plaster.

The second floor, called The Tower of Sound Waves (潮音洞, Chō-on-dō ),[2] is built in the style of warrior aristocrats, or buke-zukuri.

[5] The location implements the idea of borrowing of scenery ("shakkei") that integrates the outside and the inside, creating an extension of the views surrounding the pavilion and connecting it with the outside world.

[11] The zen typology is seen through the rock composition; the bridges and plants are arranged in a specific way to represent famous places in Chinese and Japanese literature.

[4] The pavilion grounds were built according to descriptions of the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amida, intending to illustrate a harmony between heaven and earth.

[4] The four stones forming a straight line in the pond near the pavilion are intended to represent sailboats anchored at night, bound for the Isle of Eternal Life in Chinese mythology.

[17] A minimalistic approach was brought to the garden design by recreating larger landscapes in a smaller scale around a structure.