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1. Ginkakuji or the Silver Pavilion is officially named “Jisho-ji” temple. 

2. Ginkaku is the nickname of its Buddhist hall, Kannonden( Kannon hall). 

3. Since the architectural structure of the Golden Pavilion, or Kinkaku which has golden walls, is similar to that of Ginkaku, people had started to call the temple Ginkaku-ji. 

4. The silver Pavilion’s two stories are constructed in two different architectural style and contain a statue of Kannon.(The interior is not open to the public) 

5. The two-storied pavilion of Ginkaku-ji is modeled after the Golden Pavilion, Kinkaku-ji. 

6. The Silver Pavilion was never covered in silver leaf despite its name. 

7. The name ,Ginkaku-ji appeared more than a century after the building’s construction to contrast it with the Golden Pavilion. 

8. Ginkaku or Kannonden is one of only two buildings on the grounds of Ginkaku-ji which have survived today. 

9. Ginkaku-ji is a Zen temple that symbolizes the Higashiyama Culture of the Muromachi period. (1338-1573) 

10. Ginkaku-ji was built as a retirement villa in 1482 by shogun Ashikaga Yosimasa, the eighth shogun of the Muromachi shogunate. 

11. Ashikaga Yosimasa is the grandson of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third shogun of the Muromachi shogunate who built the Golden Pavilion or Kinkaku-ji. 

12. Ashikaga Yoshimasa was not good at managing a country in a time of conflict and instability, but a great patron of the arts such as Noh, Sado(the tea ceremony) and Ikebana(flower arrangement).  

Ginkakuji