The Temple of the Golden Pavilion: Maizuru to Kinkaku-ji

Mizoguchi's story starts far from Kyoto. His father is a consumptive Buddhist priest who lives and works on Cape Nariu, on the north coast of Honshu, and as a child the boy also lives with his uncle near Maizuru. From his father he hears the idea that shapes the whole novel: the Golden Pavilion is the most beautiful building in the world.

Location precision: The novel names Cape Nariu and the area near Maizuru; the pin marks the Nariu locality, not a specific house or temple.

In spring 1944 Mizoguchi's ailing father brings him to Kinkaku-ji and introduces him to the Superior, Tayama Dosen. After his father dies, the boy becomes an acolyte here and finds his first real friend, Tsurukawa. During the war he even hopes firebombing will destroy the pavilion, but Kyoto is never firebombed. The real Kinkaku-ji is a three-story building whose top two stories are covered in pure gold leaf, and it stands in the grounds of the Rokuon-ji temple complex.

Visitor guidance: Kinkaku-ji is open to visitors and sits in northern Kyoto; the current pavilion is a 1955 rebuild.

In May 1945 Mizoguchi and Tsurukawa visit Nanzen-ji, a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto. There they watch a woman give her lover a cup of tea made with her own breast milk. Nanzen-ji was established in 1291 by Emperor Kameyama on the site of his earlier detached palace, and its Sanmon gate has stairs up to a viewing area.

Visitor guidance: Nanzen-ji's Sanmon gate has stairs up to an elevated viewing area.

Years later, Mizoguchi goes to Takeisao-jinja, a Kyoto shrine, and draws a lot. It warns him not to travel northwest. He ignores it: the next morning he sets off northwest, the journey that leads him to the coast and to his decision about the temple.

Location precision: The novel names Takeisao-jinja, but no source used here confirms its location, so this stop is left unpinned.

Northwest of Kyoto, Mizoguchi spends three days at Yura, on the Sea of Japan coast. Here the sight of the sea inspires him to destroy the Kinkaku.

Location precision: The novel names only Yura and the sea; the pin marks the Yura locality, not a particular beach.

Early next morning, Mizoguchi sneaks into the Kinkaku and places three straw bales in corners of the ground floor, then sets them on fire. He runs out and keeps running to Hidari Daimonji, where he throws away the arsenic and knife and decides to live. The real pavilion was burned down by a 22-year-old novice monk; the present structure dates from 1955, when it was rebuilt. Kyoto's Daimonji festival lights five giant bonfires on the mountains surrounding the city.

Location precision: The novel says Hidari Daimonji, a hillside near Kyoto, but not a precise spot, so this stop is left unpinned.