Anyone that has known me for any length of time knows that I am a bit of a nonconformist. Not in a militant anarchist or hippy drop-out way. I don't have any tattoos, I don't own a leather jacket, I don't ride a motorcycle. But I have never been one to do what everyone else is doing, go where everyone else is going. When I travel I like to go where I want to go, not where I am "supposed" to go. I have guide books and I use them, but I prefer to discover things as they happen to appear. I prefer the dérive, the sort of drifting theory developed by Guy Debord in Paris in the mid 1950s.
So, disclaimer in place I am going to say something that may be shocking to my friends from Kyoto. I was not terribly impressed by Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion). As a designated World Cultural Heritage Site and Kyoto's most iconic structure I was expecting to be blown away. This is a must-see; one cannot come to Kyoto and not visit the Golden Pavilion. Was I not dazzled because it was gray and rainy? Has temple fatigue set in? I don't know, I don't think so.
Before I am deported I will say I liked it. It is elegant, even delicate, in a way other temples are not. But despite being covered in 50kg of gold leaf, I did not find it spectacular. I won't say it is gaudy, but it is ostentatious. Maybe that's it.
Like Nijo Castle, it was swarmed with tourists, even in the rain. We were guided through the grounds, given cues for taking photos, and sold something every 30 or 40 yards. It could be that.
There is the pavilion, of course, but not a lot else to see on the strictly managed path.
That could also be it. Or maybe I'm just missing something.
I find when I'm at places where the tour buses are lined up and everyone is snapping photos like mad - the exact same photo - I ask myself, because I can't ask the other tourists, why have you come here? Are you seeing Kinkaku-ji, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty, or are you just checking off the not-to-be-missed sights in your guide book? Here I am at ______________ (fill in the blank); here's a photo to prove I was there. But why? What does it mean that you were here? Does it matter?
The existential tourist.
Ha! You need to read Mishima's The Temple of the Golden Pavillion! The young monk has the exact same reaction you do on seeing the temple for the first time--minus the tourists--only to become so obsessed by its unspeakable beauty he decides to burn it down. Based on a true story!
ReplyDeleteI just started reading this book. Don't worry, my feelings about Kinkakuji are not strong enough to consider arson.
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