Kinkakuji and Kitayama

Kinkakuji and Kitayama (Brill) traces the extraordinary history of Kinkakuji, a Zen Buddhist temple and major tourist attraction in Kyoto, Japan. First a symbol of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu’s power before being declared a national treasure of Japan and then burning down and finally being rebuilt in 1950, Kinkakuji is a case study for looking at how monuments change in meaning over time. Conlan, who specializes in medieval Japanese history, chronicles this story, concluding that Kinkakuji’s reconstruction had a profound influence on UNESCO’s definition of what makes a monument “original.”