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KITAYAMA: BEYOND THE GOLDEN PAVILION – TAASA Review September 2023

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This article was originally found in the September 2023 edition of TAASA Review (Volume 32, Issue 3, Page 4).

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Matthew Stavros I n the summer of 2016, archaeologists working on the grounds of the temple of Kinkakuji (formally, Rokuonji) in Kyoto’s northwest, unearthed a large chunk of solid bronze.

Using diagnostic equipment, they quickly determined that the object was part of a large vertical finial such as those that stand atop pagodas throughout Asia.

Calculating the size of the whole from the excavated part revealed that the original disk-like object likely measured an impressive 2.3 metres in diameter (Higashi 2017: 28-40). The Golden Pavilion in 1865...