Mirror Pond

Golden Pavilion
Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto, Japan

The appropriately-named Mirror Pond (Kyoko-chi) reflects the golden light of Kinkaku in its waters.

In one respect, the rebuilt Golden Pavilion is even more faithful than the original to Yoshimitsu's design. The shogun was only able to gild the upper story, but the rebuilt pavilion is gilded on each of its two upper stories, in accordance with Yoshimitsu's original intention. The decoration, of gold leaf over lacquer, was completed in 1987 at a cost of five million dollars.