You don’t have to go and ask travel expert to know about Kinkaku-ji. Visiting Kinkaku-ji or the golden pavilion in Kyoto is a must. The power of Kinkaku-ji for attracting massive number of people annually is truly amazing. I decided to be a tourist and go with the mainstream. In the end, I still have mixed feeling about Kinkaku-ji. Will explain it along the way of writing this.

Caution, the pictures below might be too beautiful for you to handle. LOL. I tried not to do too much editing but I got too excited and it turns out very saturated. And since there’s a lot of “How-To’s” guide about Kinkaku-ji, I’m not gonna do that here. I’m just gonna share my cool photography skill and what I feel about it.

I went here when it was autumn season. So many tourist was in my personal space, I hate it so much but a girl with travel bug gotta do what she gotta do. Kinkaku-ji is not only consisting of the golden pavilion. It’s more like a complex where there are several gardens and little houses. Of course, undeniably the main star is the golden pavilion. By the way, Kinkaku-ji when literally translated to English means the golden pavilion. There’s a route to go by when in Kinkaku-ji.

金閣寺 Kinkaku-Ji

Ancient tree, near the entrance

Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto

I seriously cannot enjoy my time in Kinkaku-ji. The amount of people is truly amazing. I read that Kinkaku-ji is a Zen Buddhist Temple. Sadly, zen is the last thing I feel from Kinkaku-ji. From business perspective, I applaud Kinkaku-ji for attracting so many people and prospering so well. From my selfish perspective, I want to shoo all the people who’s getting in my way. I have to literally wait till I can have a clear view of Kinkaku-ji. You will not see any human (or if you do, they’re tiny in my pics) cause I like my pictures human-free. When I got a clear view of Kinkaku-ji, I was a tad disappointed. Disappointed towards the golden pavilion.

The Golden Pavilion

What caught my attention more is the surrounding of Kinkaku-ji. The garden, the pond, the trees, or if I may say, the supporting actors. I’ve mentioned and explained this from my Instagram Story, about Kinkaku-ji’s supporting actors. What makes Kinkaku-ji beautiful is the surroundings that makes the temple stands out. I was blessed with blue sky and not-so-much clouds that day. The trees behind Kinkaku-ji were not fully orange/yellow yet, makes the Kinkaku-ji stood out even more.

Reflection

There wasn’t much wind, which made the water in the pond calm and reflecting well. You have to see the big picture, when in Kinkaku-ji. Because the golden pavilion itself IS golden, and that’s about it. Well, I don’t know. We all have our own taste and preferences, but I prefer living things. The pavilion is actually the only non-living things in my pictures. I just realized that. How ironic that the thing that gives more bad blood (gold) is the one that attracts people more. Rather than the water that is essential for human life, the trees that is essential for human to breathe, is the supporting actors here. There you have it, my little rant lol. I was reading too much poems at this point.

The garden, the support

Reflecting

The Garden and the Pond

I don’t feel anything in particular when I was here. Apart from feeling like my personal space is intruded, I enjoy it only along borderline. It’s not like when I was in Inwangsan or Hallstatt. Of course you can’t compare but… Yeah. On the last part of Kinkaku-ji route, you can buy some lucky charms. Quite pricey, but I consider it as souvenir from Kinkaku-ji. I still glad I went here. The golden pavilion is still, after all, a World Heritage Site. But I will definitely go to less known temple the next time I travel to Kyoto. To actually feel the purpose of Buddhist temple, to feel the zen.

Zen Garden

Roof Ornament

Hope you enjoy this little blog post 🙂