With its moss covered gardens, bamboo groves, and interesting dry-sand garden, Ginkaku-ji lives up to the phrase ?simple is beautiful?. Located in northeastern Kyoto, the temple was built in 1482 by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the grandson of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who built Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion). Originally Ginkaku-ji was a retirement villa from which Yoshimasa propagated the surge of cultural pursuits that would later be referred to as ?Higashiyama Culture?, but it was converted into a temple after Yoshimasa?s death in accordance with his wishes. Now the temple stands as a testament to the intrinsically Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, with a simple wooden pavilion overlooking a pond and carefully crafted sand designs full of symbolism and deeper meaning.
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