Photo/Illutration Kinkakuji temple (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Kinkakuji, one of Kyoto's most famous Zen temples, was destroyed in a fire exactly 70 years ago today.

Taizan Egami, 84, who was a 14-year-old novice monk at the time, was awakened around 3 a.m. by unfamiliar sounds. Seeing reflections of dancing flames on a shoji sliding paper door, he dashed out in alarm. A pillar of fire was shooting up into the sky.

"Pine needles made a rushing sound," Egami recalled. "Neither a water sprinkler nor fire-extinguishing sand was of any use."

The ferocity of the fire was such that everybody simply stood around in horror. Sparks flew like fireworks and showered over Kyoko-chi pond, which surrounded the temple's pavilion.

Dawn had broken by the time a 21-year-old novice monk was identified as the arsonist.

He alone was absent at the morning roll call. He had fled his room, leaving only a go board and alarm clock behind.

He was discovered in the evening on the Hidari Daimonji hill behind the building. He was taken into custody and given a prison sentence.

Shortly after his release, he died of an illness at age 26.

"No matter how hard I tried, I just could not think of a single reason why he had to set the temple on fire," Egami said. "I can only conclude that something must have snapped in him at that particular moment."

Egami also recalled receiving frequent letters of contrition from him, begging for forgiveness.

After interviewing Egami, I reread the novel "Kinkakuji" (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion) by Yukio Mishima (1925-1970). The author's take is that the young monk must have been totally bewitched by the beauty of the pavilion, which remains quite believable to this day.

Another novel, "Kinkaku Enjo" (The burning of the Kinkakuji temple) by Tsutomu Minakami (1919-2004), is the culmination of the author's 20-year search for the arsonist's motive. Although low-key in tone, this, too, is a deeply compelling tour de force.

Did the young, impoverished student-monk, five years after the end of World War II, suffer the frustration of feeling as if he alone was being left behind while the whole nation was ascending the hill, so to speak, of postwar reconstruction?

I strolled the temple grounds while the sun peeked out of the "tsuyu" rainy season sky.

Having undergone a massive restoration and repairs over the years during the Showa Era (1926-1989), Kinkakuji is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Today, nowhere does it show even the slightest vestige of what was done 70 years ago by the young monk's momentary insanity.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 2

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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