Kinkaku-ji arson incident

Kinkaku-ji arson incident (Japanese: 金閣寺放火事件, Hepburn: Kinkakuji-hoka-jiken) was a incident in which Kinkaku-ji and the statue of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was burned down by Hayashi Yoken, a 22-year old novice monk on 2 July 1950. The arson was reported as one of the biggest incidents after the fire in Hōryū-ji in 1949. Hayashi later attempted suicide, but failed while his mother killed herself in guilt. He was later sentenced to seven years in prison in December of that year, although he was released later due to deteriorating mental conditions and tuberculosis. Hayashi died on 7 March 1956. Kinkaku-ji was later rebuilt from 1952 to 1955.
The site of Kinkaku-ji was originally a villa called Kitayama-dai (北山第), belonging to a powerful statesman, Saionji Kintsune. Kinkaku-ji's history dates to 1397, when the villa was purchased from the Saionji family by shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and transformed into the Kinkaku-ji complex. The original Golden Pavilion is believed to have been constructed in 1399. Gold was an important addition to the pavilion because of its underlying meaning. The gold employed was intended to mitigate and purify any pollution or negative thoughts and feelings towards death. When Yoshimitsu died the building was converted into a Zen temple by his son, according to his wishes. The temple was designated as a National Treasure on December 28, 1897, and restoration works took place from 1904 to 1906. The wooden statue of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was placed in the first layer of the temple, which was made in 1408.
Hayashi Yoken, the person who set the pavillion on fire, was a 22-year old novice monk at the time. He grew up in a temple, although the temple was not able to maintain itself without donations from local residents. He entered Rokuon-ji in 1944. Two years after enrolling in Ōtani University in 1947, Yoken started playing go instead of studying, ignoring warnings from other people. He was had the worst grades out of 79 people by his last year in the University. Around 1950, he had engaged in cheating during exams, submitting blank paper, and throwing people in the temple claiming it to be a Judo practice. He had little friends, although his classmates rarely stopped by when they visited Kinkaku-ji.
Although Hayashi wanted to take over Kinkaku-ji by becoming the successor of the temple, he felt that the head priest of the temple treated him in a cold way since 1949. As he felt that he was being treated poorly compared to the others in the temple, and lost his initial wishes, he despaired at the current situation and decided to commit suicide after setting Kinkaku-ji and the statue of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu inside on fire.
On 10 June 1950, Hayashi secretly removed a nail from the Kinkaku-ji, then put it back in the 24, removing it again on the 28. On 13 June, he was warned again by the head priest to go to school. Despite him answering that he will go to school that day, he was never seen at school. On 17 June, Hayashi sold his Inverness cape and travelled to the local Yūkaku. On his second visit the next day, he sold his Overcoat and told the local woman "My name is going on the newspapers". On 22 June, he bought 100 tablets of Bromisoval, despite being warned by the medic that 100 is too much and he should buy the package with 30 tablets instead. The fire alarm in the Kinkaku-ji broke down on 29 June, and was planned to be repaired on 2 July.
In 3 a.m. of 2 July, Hayashi snuck inside the temple and stacked his belongings on top of the offering box in front of the statue of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. He then placed a pile of hay below the offering box and set the entire thing on fire using match. The fire was discovered at 3:07 a.m. Fire trucks arrived six minutes later. By 3:17, the entire Kinkaku-ji was engulfed in fire. The roof of the temple collapsed 23 minutes later, with the fire finally being brought under control around 3:50 a.m. Many National Treasures were burned in the fire, including the wooden statue of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Kinkaku-ji itself. Some survived the fire, such as the roof ornament of the temple, as the ornament placed on top of Kinkaku-ji was a replica, and the original one was stored inside a warehouse. Police assumed Hayashi as the one responsible for the fire after the remains of his belongings were found burnt inside Kinkaku-ji. Around 4~7p.m. of that day, Hayashi was found while attempting suicide in the mountain. Hayashi had stabbed himself in the chest, and drank all the tablets with Bromisoval.
Kyoto Shimbun reported the incident first on the evening of 2 July in the first page with the heading "National Treasure Kinkaku-ji lost in fire this morning", although the first page was changed to report the Korean War on 3 July. Although the report mourned the loss of Kinkaku-ji and discussed about ways to protect National Treasures, it never discussed about Hayashi's motives for the arson attack. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology took the incident seriously as a massive incident as large as the previous fire in Hōryū-ji, and even considered de-listing Kinkaku-ji as a National Treasure due to the incident. The ministry decided to rebuild the temple on 27 July.
Hayashi's mother jumped off into a river and killed herself from a train in the section of San'in Main Line between Hozukyō Station and Umahori Station in 3 July after hearing the news. Before killing herself, she commented in the police station "My son is a traitor to the Nation. Why couldn't he die after doing such an act? How can I pay for such a crime? This crime cannot be compared to any other crimes. If I can die instead of him to pay for his sins, I'll gladly do so."
Hayashi was prosecuted in 13 July for arson and violating the National Treasure Preservation Law. In the first trial which was held on 24 July, Hayashi admitted the crimes but didn't agree to the prosecutor's assumption that Hayashi set the temple on fire from self-hatred, jealousies against beautiful things, hatred against society, and curiosity of how society would react against the fire. Although lawyers claimed that Hayashi is mentally unstable and cannot be held responsible for the crime, Hayashi stood up and denied the claim. He was determined to have full responsibility after months of investigation, and he was sentenced to seven years in prison on December 18.
After Hayashi was imprisoned in a prison located in Kakogawa in 1951, he sent letters to the head priest of the temple he was in, repeatedly apologizing for the crime. His mental state deteriorated after his imprisonment, and the contents of the letters slowly turned into confusing and creepy messages such as "I will fall into hell" "What color is my blood" "I don't have any place to live". His sentence was decreased to five years and three months in 1952. Hayashi caught Tuberculosis in June that year. Due to worsening conditions, he was moved to a prison in Hachiōji the next year. In Hachioji, he refused to take anything given by the prison with an exception of a nurse. He died of tuberculosis in 1956, a year after he was released in Kyoto.
Some people suggested Kinkaku-ji be rebuilt and restored with reinforced concrete, keeping the outer look similar to the original. This idea was supported due to the fact it prevents damage from further arson attacks, although this never became a reality as committees insisted on rebuilding Kinkaku-ji in the same way as it was originally built.
Gathering funds for the rebuild was difficult due to the price hikes caused by the Korean War, but enough funds were gathered with the help of monks doing Dhutanga. Restoration began on March 22, 1952 and was completed on October 10, 1955. Since the golden pavilion was modified across the 500 years of history, several changes took place to restore the very original version. After the restoration, the gold leafs on the pavilion was made five times thicker in 1987. The incident is not mentioned in neither the official website of the temple, or the pamphlets of the temple.